Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney

Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney

Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney! That sounds interesting, right? I thought so too and besides we had about 1000 plums from our trees – it was a bumper crop year and we needed to do something with them. My husband made a delicious plum pudding, next plum jam and then plum sauce. He also bagged up tons for the winter, for smoothies and other fun recipes. Of course I wanted to get in the game too, so I decided to make plum chutney.

As usual, the first thing I do is look for some recipes to give me an idea how to make plum chutney and what ingredients I should consider. I stumbled on this awesome recipe from Jamie Oliver and I had most the ingredients and could improvise from there.

What fun….let’s make chutney!

Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney

Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney is a wonderful combination of sweet and savoury and can be used in wraps, on salads, with a tofu scramble or on toast.

Really there are no rules, put this on whatever you think would work.

Its really a simple process, the first thing you do is get all your ingredients prepped. Next, you will do a little sauteing, add some liquid, cook till reduced to the thickness you like and properly can as you would anything else. You could freeze it if you prefer not to can. I am not the queen of canning so you might want to check out how to do that for yourself. Lots of great info online about how to can properly.

What you will need for your Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney

• 4 lbs of fresh plums, stones removed, chopped up into quarters
• 2 T olive oil, for sauteing or you can use veggie broth
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 2 medium white onions, chopped
• 1 full cinnamon stick
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 t allspice
• 1 t ginger, ground
• 3.5 c of brown sugar
• Juice two oranges and one lemon
• 2-3 T orange and lemon zest
• About 3.5 c of apple cider vinegar

How to make your Sweet Savoury Plum Chutney

1. Heat up a fairly big saute pan or pot to medium heat

   

   

   

2. Add in oil to pan, optional,  free to use a bit of veggie broth for an oil free version
3. Add in the shallots and onions, saute on medium until soft and transparent
4. Add in cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, allspice and ginger, and saute a bit more
5. Add in your plums and continue to saute to get the flavours into the plums
6. Add the brown sugar and stir a bit more
7. Put your orange juice in a measuring cup and fill up to 4 cups with a combination of fresh juice and apple cider vinegar, pour into the pan and bring to a boil
8. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the liquid reduces by about 2/3rd’s, to the consistency of chutney….time will vary, this took me about an hour

   

9. While the chutney is simmering and getting delicious, prepare your jars (sterilize them) and have them ready and hot to fill when the chutney is reduced to your liking. Remember to sterilize the rings and lids too.
10. Pour the hot chutney (very carefully) into the hot sterilized jars and seal with the lids. Twist lid on firm, not too tight.
11. You will hear the lids pop in the next few minutes as the jars cool and seal themselves. This is the sign your jars have sealed. This is good. You will see a bit of an indent in the lid, to know it sealed for sure.
12. Store your jars in a dry cool place and wait. For best results wait about a month at least to let the chutney develop flavour.

    

I’m still waiting for mine. Oh I can’t wait, how about you?