It's nearly chutney time again - so here are some of the supplies that I will be using…all recycled, of course, and in all different sizes, so that some may be given away as gifts and some stored for our own use. (Chutney seems to get better the longer I keep it!).
The apple tree here is more than fifty years old - so only gives of its bounty every couple of years now - and this year looks as if it is going to be a bumper crop. My basic recipe is one that was handed down to me by my Mother in law - but I have modified and added to it over several years as she no doubt did when it was passed from her mother before her. It's extremely satisfying to fill up the slow cooker, let everything simmer away into a delicious savoury jam and then see the jars filling and stacking on the shelves. There's something very primitive and intensely comforting about filling a store cupboard - be you a squirrel - or be you me!
Here is Iris's recipe - as written in her own hand.
Recipe given by Iris Cawley
17 September 1996
Green tomato chutney
1 lb. apples cored only
1 lb. onions skinned and quartered
3 lb. green tomatoes quartered
'Put all the ingredients through the mincer or if not convenient rough cut it all.
Add half pound sultanas
Half pound brown or demerara sugar
Two level teaspoons salt- sea salt I use
One ounce pickling spice in a bag loosely tied
Cook it all together with some vinegar. I used only wine vinegar and about ½ pt for this lot actually I always made about three times the amounts but used only 2 ounces of pickling spices for that.
Bring to the boil-the apples supply quite a lot of juice once they are softened and go on cooking for roughly 2 hours, taking care to stir well in the latter stages as it catches rather easily when some of the juice has boiled away. I did not hesitate to add any oddments of red or white wine if I thought it was getting too dry.
The beauty of this stuff is that it never seems to go bad, I can't think why. But I do think it is best bottled in one pound jam jars so that you don't have a big job you are getting bored with. You need a wide funnel to fill them - happy to lend you mine if necessary. '
Journal prompt:
Do you have any recipes - for foodstuffs or anything else - handed down to you from your ancestors? Do you have any memories of cooking with them? Gather those memories - write them down…and if you can, cook with your own descendants - they will never forget it and will love you for it.
I too have a family chutney recipe - from my grandmother's cook! I love using it. I'm reading all your posts and full of admiration for the work involved in producing something every day.
Posted by: Mad Englishwoman | Monday, August 27, 2018 at 08:33