Christmas Chutney
From (Mitchell Beazley, 2012): “You can eat this all year round, but it’s nice to have one chutney that you eat only at Christmas. I make it around the same time as the Christmas pudding, and the fragrance they both create in the house as they are cooking is wonderful. This is good with all the usual Christmas-y fare, cold meats and cheeses.” Fills three 1-pint jars.
Ingredients
⅔
cup dried cranberries
1 cup fresh cranberries
⅔
cup dried sour cherries
⅔
cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped prunes (dried plums)
⅔ cup raisins
⅔
cup golden raisins
4 Pippin apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 ¾ cups finely chopped onion
1 O cups cider vinegar
2 N cups light brown sugar
K teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
2-3 tablespoons brandy or port
Directions
1. Put all the ingredients, except the brandy, in a large, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to help the sugar dissolve. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook slowly for about two hours.
2. Meanwhile, prepare a boiling-water canner and keep the cleaned jars and lids warm. Try scraping a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan to check for readiness. It should leave a path that doesn’t immediately fill up with vinegar. If so, the chutney is done. (But do make sure your mixture isn’t too dry, either).
3. Add the brandy to the hot chutney, and put mixture immediately in warm, dry jars, leaving ½-inch head space. Process jars in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes at sea level .
