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Preserving the harvest

Apple-onion-blackcurrant chutney

Colonial India bequeathed to the English, and the English bequeathed to Europe, this brown-purple compote that wakes up any cheese, any cold meat, any winter.

Chutney is the aristocrat of preservation by long cooking: you simmer a mixture of fruit, vegetables, vinegar, sugar and spices for 5 to 6 hours, until you get a dense, deeply aromatic confit. The sugar + vinegar couple acts as a double preservative. This version uses produce from the temperate garden: apples, onions, blackcurrant for its black, complex acidity.

Ingredients

Equipment

  • •1 large thick-bottomed pot or a jam pan
  • •1 long wooden spoon
  • •5 to 6 jam jars of 250-300 ml with metal lids

Steps

  1. 1

    Prepare the fruit and vegetables

    Peel and cut the apples into 1 cm dice. Slice the onions. Grate the ginger. Rinse the blackcurrant. Measure the spices.

    30 min

  2. 2

    Assemble in the pot

    In the large pot, mix all the ingredients (apples, onions, blackcurrant, raisins, sugar, vinegar, ginger, spices, salt). Do not cover.

    5 min

  3. 3

    Simmer for 5 to 6 hours

    Bring to the boil over high heat, then lower to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer uncovered for 5 to 6 hours (yes, much more than the 1h30 recipes often state). Stir every 20 minutes at the start, then more often toward the end so it doesn't catch. The mixture will go from liquid to confit, and gradually brown.

    5 to 6 h

  4. 4

    Test the consistency

    The chutney is ready when: (1) it has taken on a dark brown-purple colour, (2) a wooden spoon stood in it stays upright 2-3 seconds, (3) drawing the spoon across the bottom, the furrow does not close up immediately.

  5. 5

    Jar and sterilise

    Sterilise the jars (boiling water 10 min or oven 100 °C for 10 min). Fill the scalding-hot jars with the scalding-hot chutney to 5 mm from the rim, screw down firmly, turn over for 5 min. The vacuum will form as it cools.

    20 min

  6. 6

    Wait 3 months (the secret)

    Do not open before 3 months. The chutney needs time to soften, round out and grow complex. Tasted too soon, it is acrid and sour; after 3 months, it's a marvel.

    3 months minimum

Storage

Several years in a cool, dry cupboard. Once opened: several months in the fridge (sugar + vinegar = an excellent preservative).

How to use it

1 to 2 tablespoons as a side: with a firm cheese (cheddar, comté), cold ham, grilled meat, a curry, plain rice. Also delicious in a sandwich.

Health properties

  • Fibre and antioxidants from the fruit, partly preserved despite the long cooking
  • Anthocyanins of the blackcurrant (cooked form, less bioactive than raw but present)
  • The vinegar gives a lower overall glycaemic index than a pure-sugar jam
  • No live cultures: cooking kills them, but it helps the keeping

These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.

Precautions

Very high in sugar despite the vinegar, to dose for diabetics. The spice may bother sensitive stomachs. Sterilisation of the jars is essential (otherwise mould). If a jar bulges or gives off a fermented smell on opening, discard without hesitation.

Sources & tradition

  • · Pam Corbin, The River Cottage Preserves Handbook (2008)
  • · Anglo-Indian tradition (chatni)
  • · L'autosuffisance, c'est possible ! (Cherche-Midi), cooking time 5-6 h

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