Chutney Time

Its maybe a little early in the year for traditional chutney making to start.  Usually it gets under way when there is a glut of things in gardens for people to use which would be starting September.  I no longer have an allotment, but we have a great market and also very good local greengrocery shop: Joe Richards.  It is when I see some fruit or vegetables at their peek of perfection that I feel it is time to preserve.

It is Chutney Making time chez Mrs Mace, for two reasons:  there is very little chutney left, and the jam jar cupboard is full.  The only chutney I had to give to my friend Diane when she came up from Stratford was a jar of Mango which had only been make within a week.

Friday was a massive Chutney making day.

I had prepared all the vegetables for the Piccallili Thursday night, and first thing saw me chopping some lovely small green and very fresh courgettes that I had picked up from Joe Richards.

Then it was all the onions, garlic etc.  Spices mixed and the lovely Biona Organic Cider Vinegar and time stirring it all together on the hob.

Now I need to prepare the labels, for the Courgette Chutney, and the Piccallili  and put these away in the preserve cupboard.  I may just enter a jar from each of these for the Autumn Shows, it will be just perfectly matured by then.

Easy Mango Chutney Recipe

Everything is put into a large stainless steel preserving pan, and cooked together.

2Kg Large Mangoes, just ripe, peeled, stoned and cut into small pieces
1 small dried chillie, cut finely, if you want it hot you can add more.
1 long pointed sweet pepper, cut into fine strips
2 onions chopped small
4 cloves garlic, minced
80g fresh root ginger chopped into fine pieces
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sea salt
400ml organic cider vinegar
320g white granulated sugar

The Mangoes were indeed magnificent, so many thanks to Neil and Team at the Fruit and Veggie Stall at Kenilworth Market.  So much firm, sweet flesh on these fragrant Mangoes would give a great preserve, however another few days, and they would have been too juicy for the chutney.

I started to grate the ginger, and could see that there were strong fibres, so decided to chop the rest finely, next time I would chop the whole lot.

The sweet pepper is to give the lovely contrast of red and mango, as I only wanted to put one of the small red chillies from the garden chopped fine.

Stir the whole over a gentle heat till the sugar dissolves,  bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, until it is thickish.  It took about 45 minutes once the heat was reduced.  It needs stirring with a wooden spatula to avoid it sticking, fairly regularly.

Put into clean hot jars, label, and store for a few weeks before using...the little extra in a dish left over after filling the jars, will used straight away of course!

Apricot Jam

Last Thursday Kenilworth Market had the first of the season's apricots.  I had bought a small punnet the previous week, so I knew they were coming.  I love Apricot Jam.  It is subtle, but rich in flavour at the same time.  Its the colour of sunshine.  

With nearly three pounds,  with a few taken out for a packed lunch on Friday, I set to preparing the fruit.  There was just one kilo of prepared fruit.  I make sure I cut any little blemishes off the skin, and the area around the stalk where there is a little dark mark.  Then I take the stones, placed in a plastic bag, and give them a gentle tap on the patio with a hammer through the plastic, until I feel they are just cracked, any more and you can make a much of the soft kernels.  Then separated from their hard shell, I pour the boiling water over the kernels  which makes taking off the skin really easy.

With lemon juice and a kilo of sugar, I got just two larger jars and four smaller ones.  These won't last long, so there will be further Friday Apricot Jam making sessions.

Blackcurrant and Apple Jam

I do have an assortment of sweet preserves in the cupboard, but we do have a 'picky' one in the house.  I've just found out that he does not really like jellies, or cheeses, but preserves with bits in them.  Therefore with the last of the blackcurrant jam finished, and since this preserve is to him, as marmalades are to me, I felt that I needed to use the remainder of the blackcurrants picked from the garden last summer.

As I rooted through the freezer, I came across a bottle of very carefully made crab apple juice also from last autumn, ready to make into a jelly, but bearing in mind my new found knowledge, thought about putting it together with the blackcurrants.  It was going to have to masquerade as Blackcurrant and Apple Jam.  Of course I had consulted various preserve books, and was most inspired by Basic Basics by Marguerite Patten. There is not one single picture in this book but the reasons why you do things are really well covered.  I keep going back to this book, which has grown to the top of my pile of preserving reference books.

Here is my recipe:

1.4Kg prepared blackcurrants, mine were the largest, ripest, juiciest ones which I have reserved for desserts!
800 ml water
850ml prepared crab apple juice
2 Kg sugar, a present from Diane

Following Mrs Patten's advice, I made sure the blackcurrants were gently poached until absolutely tender.  Then I added the juice, and sugar.  She gives a recipe using blackcurrants and chopped cooking apples.

Just to make sure it had the seal of approval, my dearly beloved had his first taste without the label on it...then I printed Blackcurrant and Apple Jam in bold for the labels, which is easily read first thing in the morning, when he does not wear his glasses, but in the small print I did say it was Crab Apple Jelly! The verdict:  "Really Lovely!"

Award Winning Marmalades

First Prize for the Lime Marmalade and second for the Pink Grapefruit Marmalade at the Kenilworth Horticultural Society Spring Show.

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade

I've written up about this one on my other blog...but here is just a nice picture.  Its a lovely colour:  warm and inviting for breakfast....

Green is the colour

Yes Green, one of my favourite colours, all types of green....

Picked up some lovely fresh bright green unwaxed limes from Waitrose.  I've not made any Seville Marmalade this year, but will just focus on others.  However in the cupboard I had only a part pack of Tate & Lyle left, so I rushed to the local small Tesco, but they only sell sugar beet sugar.  I've used that before but it just does not work.  A small store had some, so rather than traipse to a larger Tesco in Warwick or Leamington I bought a couple of bags.

I really love Lime Marmalade so soon there will a few pots in the cupboard.