Yesterday I made apple chutney for the first time as part of my Christmas gift-making. It was a little time-consuming with the chopping of apples and onions, but fairly straight forward. And as it bubbled away happily it made the whole house smell lovely. I used this recipe I found online. It needs to rest in its jars for about a month so I figure it’s perfect timing (well, maybe a little tiny bit late) for Christmas. I tasted it though, and even right out of the pot it’s quite nice.
I’d say the most fiddly part was the potting and canning. There seems to be differing opinions as to whether or not chutney needs to be put through the boiling water canning process but I don’t really know enough about it to make an informed decisions. Plus, these are gifts, so I wanted to be extra safe. I don’t have a canner, so had to improvise, and do lots of batches. And there was much fussing about with wooden utensils trying to get bottles in and out of boiling water for sterilizing. I felt a little like Edward Spoon Hands, or like I was playing some strange fair game. It would have been slightly easier if I could have used the dishwasher to sterilize the jars before potting, but it was nowhere near full so I couldn’t justify running it. But I got everything done and well sealed in the end. It does make me consider the need for a canner though. It’s a hard thing to decide because I don’t make much in the way of preserves, but maybe I would if the processing was easier!
But all that is unimportant now and what matters is that I have a lovely little collection of chutney to give away!
