I've been inspired to make a Chutney for next Christmas, having been given several jars of 'Christmas Chutney' this year. While in some respects obviously a marketing ploy, it got me thinking about what sort of chutney would have the required festive feel.

Preserved lemons are traditionally used in North African cuisine, but are a useful ingredient to have in the fridge and can add a citrus kick to many other recipes. They are very easy to make, see here for a blog post about making preserved lemons.

Preserved lemons are a common ingredient in North African, and  especially Moroccan, cuisine. You can actually use them in many dishes - anywhere that would benefit from a bit of citrus flavour.  I've put togather some ideas in this blog post about what to do with preserved lemons.

While making vegetarian mincemeat I found myself short of some mixed spice, so set about making some more from spices I had in stock. 

Do you need ideas for a tricky to buy for preserving person, or just want to treat yourself? Maybe you'll be inspired by the list below:

Preserving Pan
An absolute essential, and ideal if you need a gift for someone who has been struggling along making preserves in a normal size saucepan. Quite a pricey gift, but a good preserving pan will last a lifetime.

Mincemeat dates from the 15th Century, when it actually contained meat and was more of a savory pie filling. Over time the meat was replaced by animal fat (in the form of suet) and the mixture sweetened by the addition of sugar, making it more of a pudding dish.

Le Parfait jars are great for using when preserving, as their rubber seal and clip mechanism ensure a perfect airtight seal. They can often be picked up cheaply second hand and with a bit of cleaning and reconditioning come up as good as new.

Green Tomato Chutney is one of those things that you almost hope you don't have to make (apart from that it's delicious). It would be so much nicer to eat all the tomatoes in the red and juicy state that they should be, however the recent wet summers mean that there are often green tomatoes left at the end of the season. This is an ideal way to use them up.
I've never seen green tomatoes for sale anywhere, although I wouldn't be surprised if you could get them at some larger farmers markets. The ones I used were the last stragglers from the greenhouse, there were a few orange and red ones in there as well.

These pickled onions should provide a bit of warmth when they are ready in the new year, the spicy pickling vinegar is added to by tucking a few chillies in the jars.
I used up the remainder of a 5 kg bag of onions I recently bought for the bargain price of £3.75, much more cost effective than buying small bags from the supermarket.
The first half of the bag had gone in making sweet pickled onions.

After the success (I hope) of making pickled onions last week, I've been keen to make some more, so hopefully we've got enough to last us the whole of next year. I picked up a 5kg sack of pickling onions from the local fruit and veg shop, along with 5 litres of malt vinegar, the plan being to try out some different mixes of spices and flavours.