We love it when autumn rolls around as it’s a great excuse to pull out our favourite knitted jumpers, enjoy crisp morning walks amongst the leaves and get busy in the kitchen making our favourite autumn-inspired preserves. Our Spiced Apple and Plum Chutney is a delicious addition to sandwiches, cheese boards and poppadums, just make sure you have plenty of preserving jars at the ready as our recipe makes enough chutney to last all the way through to winter.
To make your chutney you will need
Whenever you’re making a preserve it’s important that you sterilise your preserving jar first to ensure that your chutney keeps well, is safe to eat and free from any harmful germs or bacteria. To do this you simply need to pop the jars through the hottest setting on your dishwasher before filling with your chutney. Don’t have a dishwasher? Wash your jars by hand and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 150°C but make sure you remove the rubber seal first – this cannot be baked. Whilst your glass jars are in the oven, place your rubber seals into a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes.
We recommend making this recipe about a month ahead of eating to allow the vinegar to mellow but it’s worth the wait, once rested it can last up to a whole year if left unopened. We like to make a big batch each year in one of our casserole dishes so that we have plenty to last until next autumn but if you’re feeling generous, it makes a lovely harvest gift too!
Potentially one of the messiest parts of the job is decanting your delicious chutney into jars, but that need not be the case. Opt for a ladle or serving spoon with a deep edge to keep spillages to a minimum. A number of options can be found within our kitchen utensils section on our website or in store.
If you’re anything like us you may have found that the cooler temperatures have you craving comfort food and cosy nights in. If so, how about trying our twist on the classic chilli con carne or perhaps our spiced pumpkin squash soup for something lighter this week?
For more recipe inspiration you can check out our recipe section filled with lots of great dishes that you can make at home.
This recipe has been adapted from this one by BBC Good Food.
Spiced Apple and Plum Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 kg Bramley apples
- 1 kg plums
- 500 ml cider vinegar
- 1 bulb garlic (peeled)
- 1 piece fresh ginger (peeled)
- 2 large onions (peeled)
- 3 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cumin seed
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tbsp salt
- 450 g golden caster sugar
Instructions
- Sterilise your jars following the instructions in this blog post.
- Thinly shred your ginger and slice the garlic and onions before adding to a shallow casserole dish or large saucepan.
- Peel, core and chop the apples and add to the pan with all the spices, vinegar, and salt.
- Bring the pan to the boil over a medium heat, stir, replace the lid and turn down the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stone and quarter the plums and add to your pan, mixing well with the cooked apples. Stir in the sugar and leave to simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes. Stir regularly until the plums are cooked.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and star anise before decanting into the jars you sterilised earlier.
- If kept unopened in a cool place this will last for up to a year, but once opened keep in the fridge and use within a month.
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