Plum and Apple Chutney

This is the first of three very uninspiring posts featuring pictures of jars of chutney. I really should have taken photos of it cooking but it didn't occur to me at the time and as I can't really dig into these until Christmas, this picture will just have to do until I update it with one of the chutney in action.

We have a glut of plums this year. I cooked up at least 3kgs of them, gave some away, ate some, mother-in-law cooked some too and the rest we've kind of left to flounder which is an absolutely travesty but there's only so much you can do with plums before you get fed up of them. I should make the most of it as for a couple of years the tree barely fruited at all. 

I spent last Monday up to my arms in chutney and this is the first one I made. I took advantage of the glut of cooking apples we also have at the moment....

The quantities below made enough chutney to fill about four 7oz jars.

Plum & Apple Chutney

Ingredients

750g plums
250g cooking apples
125g brown sugar
100g raisins
1 large onion, finely chopped
250ml cider vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch ground cloves

Method

Wash the plums, cut into half and remove the stones.  Chop into rough quarters. Leaving the skin on, core and dice the apples.

Add all the ingredients into a large pan, and bring to the boil over a high heat, stirring all the time. 

Simmer on a low heat for around 45 minutes until everything has softened and thickened, taking care to stir occasionally to prevent anything sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Spoon the chutney into hot, sterile jars and seal immediately. 

You can use your chutney immediately however the longer you leave it, the better it tastes and I'd recommend leaving it for at least a month in a cool, dark cupboard.