Christmas Makes-Christmas Chutney

This year, inevitably, we are making many of our Christmas presents. So I thought I would share them with you! Here is the first one.

(And as today is Buy Nothing Day, you could use your freed up time, to make some pressies!)

Every year for the last few years, we have made a batch of Christmas Chutney and jarred it up to give at (you guessed it) Christmas.

This is the recipe we used this year. It is from Nigella Christmas (you may have noticed by now that I heart Nigella. A lot)

Cranberry and Apple Chutney

This is what you need to make about a litre:

• 750g cooking apples-peeled, quarteed, cored and chopped
• 250g dried cranberries-we didn’t have quite enough so substituted some raisins (sorry Nigella)
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 350ml cider vinegar
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp Maldon salt or 1 tsp table salt

This is what you do:

• Sterilize your jars-I wash them in hot soapy water, and then place them on a baking tray in the oven at about 150C for 10-15mins
• Take a medium/large saucepan and chuck in all the ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon and put the pan on the heat
• Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat a little to let the pan cook, uncovered on a fast simmer, for about 45 minutes, or until the chutney has thickened and the fruit is soft
• Spoon into the war, prepared jars and fasten on the lids tightly

Can be made up to 2 months in advance. The longer you give it to ‘mature’ the better.

Store in a cool dark place for up to a year. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within 1 month.

So why not whip up a batch? This would make a great present on it’s own, or given with some a selection of hand-picked cheeses and some posh biscuits!