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.

Delia has a Christmas Chutney which includes lots of dried fruit and  Mary Berry has one made from peppers and aubergines. The general idea seems to concoct something a bit richer than usual, maybe containing fruit associated with Christmas, which also goes well with cold meat and cheese (most chutneys do...)

I realise I'm coming at this from the wrong end of the year, so may save up some ideas for use in the late summer, maybe plum and apple chutney.

I finally went for a Apple and Cranberry chutney from the BBC good food website, mainly because there was a bag of cranberries lurking in the bottom of the vegetable drawer.

I reckon it's a good time of year to use make this chutney, using up cheap cranberries or Christmas leftovers along with apples still stored from the Autumn. This lightly coloured fruity chutney would make a good Christmas chutney for next year, if you could wait that long.

See here for the Apple and Cranberry Chutney recipe.

Recipe Costs

£1.34 1kg cooking  apples
£0.74 500g eating apples (coxes)
£0.33 450g onions
£0.50 50g fresh root ginger
£0.04 1 tsp peppercorns
£0.37 500g granulated sugar
£0.35 250ml cider vinegar
£4.94 500g cranberries
£8.61 Total

about £4.30 per kg of chutney (about a quarter the cost of buying similar from the Hawkshead Relish Company or 65% of the cost of similar at tesco )

Starting with finely chopped onions, with life made easier using a sharp knife.

The mixture of cooking and eating apples is not one I've come across before, I guess it should give a variety of textures in the finished chutney. The coarsely chopped Bramley Apples will break down quickly when cooking...

... while the finely chopped coxes should retain some of their bite.

The only spices in this recipe are chopped fresh ginger and whole black peppercorns, it'll be interesting to see if the finished chutney could of done with more. (perhaps a few cloves or cinnamon)

All the ingredients apart from the cranberries are cooked up together and simmered for about 50 minutes. The organic cider vinegar will add to the apple flavour, I'm sure white wine vinegar would work as well.

The cranberries are added towards the end of the cooking, to ensure they don't turn to mush. I have to admit to not knowing much about cranberries and was intrigued by the slogan 'straight from the bog' on the packet. You can find out a bit more about them, along with some photos of how they are harvested from the flooded bogs at the pineypower.com website.

After a further 10 minutes simmering the cranberries were still whole, the apples had broken down and the chutney was a good consistency.

The finished chutney is a very light colour, which makes an interesting change from the usual dark brown offerings.

Recipe Timings

25 mins chopping
55 mins simmering
15 mins potting

Taste Test

This will have to wait a few months.

 

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.

This recipe substitutes vegetarian suet for the animal fat, although I actually used baking margarine which doesn't seem to make any difference, meat eaters could use the real thing if they wished. The recipe is adapted from one on Delia Smith's website, and is also available in her many books including Delia's Christmas.

The process of making the mincemeat is very easy, if a little time consuming, as there are a lot of ingredients to weigh out. It's one where a bit of improvisation shouldn't make a lot of difference, try substituting in different dried fruit like dates and apricots, or adding more of your favorite nuts. It's worth making quite a lot of this, as it keeps for years and the recipe won't suffer from being scaled up.

See here for the vegetarian mincemeat recipe.

Recipe Costs

£0.60 450g bramley apples, cored and finely chopped
£0.87 220g vegetarian suet
£0.97 350g raisins
£0.29 220g sultanas
£0.62 220g currants
£0.66 220g mixed candied peel
£0.55 350g soft dark brown sugar
£0.60 juice and zest of 2 oranges
£0.60 juice and zest of 2 lemons
£0.65 50g finely chopped almonds
£0.22 4 tsp mixed spice
£0.03 1/2 tsp cinnamon
£0.03 large pinch of nutmeg
£1.26 tbsp brandy
£7.95 Total
£2.94 per kg of mincemeat (60% of the cost of tesco finest mincemeat)

The bramley apples are chopped finely, no need to peel them.

Raisins, sultanas and currants make up the bulk of the mixture.

This recipe was a good chance to use up some of the homemade candied peel I'd had in jars since February.

I grated the margarine, which was made simpler by keeping it in the fridge beforehand, this makes it easier to distribute it well when mixing together all the ingredients.

Lemon and orange juice and zest add flavour and moisture.

Almonds, grated nutmeg (I use the extremely efficient microplane nutmeg grater) and mixed spices.

All the ingredients are given a good mix, I found this easiest using my hands in a large bowl, which is then covered and left overnight in a cool place. This allows the flavours to mingle.

The next morning the bowl is covered with foil and cooked in the oven for three hours (at 120 degrees C), this melts the fat allowing it to coat all the fruit and helping in its preservation, it's quite a surprising amount when it's melted down, as you can see in the picture. This filled the house with the most wonderful smells of spices and citrus fruit.

It's important to keep stirring regularly as the mincemeat cools, this makes sure that all the fruit is covered in fat.  Wait until the mixture is cool before potting in steralised jars otherwise you'll end up with all the fat in a lump, it took about three hours for mine to congeal.

Before potting is the time to add brandy, this helps preserve the mixture, and also adds flavour. All the alcohol will evaporate when the mincemeat is cooked, so it's fine for giving to kids, you can leave it out if you wish but should keep the resulting mincemeat in the fridge and use it within a few weeks.

I bought cheap brandy from Aldi, no need to splash out.
I potted the mincemeat up in my recently reconditioned Le Parfait jars, it should be good to use in a few weeks and will keep for several years.

Recipe Timings

45 mins preparation
12 hours resting
3 hrs cooking
30 mins potting

Taste Test

This will have to wait a few weeks.

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.

Nigel Slater has written a nice article about green tomatoes, which includes another recipe.

This recipe is taken from the "Good Housekeeping" Cookery Book, granny recommended it as the best, and she should know.

See here for the Green Tomato Chutney Recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0.40 300g cooking apples
£0.16 1 large onion
£0.00 900g  green tomatoes
£0.16 125g sultanas
£0.02 1 1/2 tsp salt
£0.20 125g demerara sugar
£0.35 270ml malt vinegar
£0.05 1 tsp mustard powder
£0.01 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
£0.50 50g fresh ginger
£1.85 Total
£2.05 per kg of chutney  (an eighth of the cost of Rick Stein's Green Tomato Chutney)

The tomatoes are thinly sliced and put in the preserving pan.

Chopped apples, onions, sultanas, sugar and dry spices went in next, I used mustard seeds as I had run out of powder. I only roughly chop the apples, as they will be reduced to a pulp, the onions are chopped a bit finer.

I added 50g of fresh ginger in a muslin bag as well, nothing like a bit of improvisation when chutney making, although interestingly it was the most expensive ingredient and pushed the overall cost up quite a bit. I smash it about a bit with a rolling pin before putting it in the bag, this helps release more of the flavour.

I used the spicy pickling vinegar I'd recently made for pickling onions, this should add some extra depth to the finished chutney.

All the ingredients in the pan and ready to bring to the boil.

After 55 minutes of simmering the bottom of the pan stayed visible after drawing a spoon across it, a sure sign that the chutney has reached the correct consistency.
Remove the muslin bag at this stage.

The chutney was potted into steralised jars and should be ready in a few months.

Recipe Timings

30 mins chopping etc.
55 mins simmering
15 mins potting

With the sloe gin sitting under the stairs being regularly shaken, thoughts have turned to making other sorts of warming drinks which will be ready for Christmas. Also, as our neighbours have been supplying us with quantities of apples, it would be nice to be able to repay them in a few months time.

The obvious conclusion, especially after the successful making of rhubarb schnapps,  was to try and hunt down an apple schnapps recipe, maybe with the addition of cinnamon for that extra warming taste. I found just what I was looking for on the canadianliving.com website.

See here for the the apple and cinnamon schnapps recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£1.34 1kg bramley apples (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£0.09 100g granulated sugar
£7.89 70cl vodka
£0.17 1 cinnamon stick

£9.49 Total (£8.15 without buying the apples)
£13.55 per litre of schnapps (£11.64 without buying the apples - peach schnapps costs £14.27 at ocado)

The apples were washed and then thinly sliced without peeling or removing the cores. The whole lot is strained out after several months so it all adds to the flavour.

The apples, cinnamon stick and sugar are put into jars which have an airtight seal, I find Le Parfait jars ideal for this.

I used two 1 litre jars for this, as it leaves a bit of room for shaking the contents every now and again. After mixing well to dissolve the sugar the jars are put in a cool dark place for a minimum of 3 weeks, preferably two months. The contents will then be strained off through muslin, pressing the apples to release all the liquid.
Should be ready just in time for Christmas.

Recipe Timings

15 mins preparation
2 months sitting

Taste Test

Compared to something like sloe gin, this is very sweet and smooth with the cinnamon adding a warming afterglow. Definitely one to make if you have a glut of apples.

 

I still had a bowlful of sloes standing in the kitchen, and since there is only so much sloe gin you can make (or drink), have looked around for another recipe using the hard little fruits.
Pamela Michael's Edible Wild Plants & Herbs, is the ideal book for this sort of thing as it goes into great detail about the many uses of various wild plants.

One concern with using sloes to make preserves is how to deal with the stones, having had several messy experiences picking plum stones out of stewed plums I wasn't keen to repeat this with the smaller sloe stones. The basis of this jam is a pulp of apples and sloes, which means you conveniently sieve out the troublesome stones.

A word of warning, this is one time that apron hanging behind the kitchen door really should be worn as  sloe juice makes a good indelible ink if you ever need to write your name inside your clothes.

See here for the sloe and apple jam recipe.

Recipe Costs

£2.75 500g sloes (equivalent cost on ebay, mine were free)
£1.34 1kg cooking apples (equivalent cost, mine were free)
£ 1.40 1.5kg granulated sugar
£5.49 Total (£1.40 without buying the sloes and apples )
£2.74 per kg of jam(£0.70 per kg without buying the sloes and apples- 10% of the cost of equivalent at qualitypreserves.com)

The fruit is very quick to prepare as the apples are chopped roughly leaving the skin and core to add to the flavour. After 20 minutes of simmering the pulp is ready to be sieved.

This is the messy bit, I ended up forcing the remainder of the fruit through a colander with my hands in an attempt to extract as much pulp as possible. This took a surprising amount of time, partly as care needs to be taken when dealing with quantities of hot fruit pulp.

The resulting pulp was returned to the preserving pan..

..and sugar added..

..resulting in a rich dark jam a few minutes later.

Recipe Timings
15 mins preparation
30 mins simmering
30 mins pulping
15 mins boiling
15 mins potting

Taste Test

This jam still has a slight bitterness from the sloes, but has a nice smooth texture.

image source wikimedia commons

1. The latin name for the Apple is Malus domestica and the Bramley cultivar is officially know as 'Bramley's Seedling'.

2. The bicentenary of the Bramley apple will be celebrated in 2009, marking 200 years since the pip that grew into the first Bramley apple tree was planted.

3. In 1809 the first Bramley tree grew from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Nottinghamshire, in 1846 a local butcher, Matthew Bramley, bought the cottage and garden.

4. The original Bramley tree is still producing fruit.

5. A peculiarity of the variety is that when cooked it becomes golden and fluffy, for this reason it is mainly used for deserts and chutneys.

6. Bramley apples are flatish with a green skin which becomes red on the side which receives direct sunlight.

7. Apples are often used in soft fruit jams as they have a relativly high pectin level which helps the jam to set.

8. Apples float because 25% of their volume is air.

9. There is no mention of an apple as the forbidden fruit in the Bible. It is referred to as "fruit from the Tree of Knowledge".

10. Bramley apples are an essential ingredient in blackberry and apple jam

Blackberry and apple jam is probably the favorite jam in this household, I'm in trouble if a batch doesn't get made every year. Not that it's a chore, as picking blackberries is a totally pleasurable way to pass the time, and making the glossy deep coloured jam one of the best things to do with the fruit.

We planted several blackberry canes in our boundary hedge, at the same time as the hedging plants. They are a thornless variety, which is a great idea, although not so if you plant them in a predominantly hawthorn hedge.  I try and use about half of this variety and half from the local hedgerows, the difference in size, flavour and texture between even just the canes round our local lanes is quite noticeable. Rather than go down the single variety route I feel this is one case where a blend of berries works well, adding interest to the finished jam. Anyway, I could never get enough of one variety to make it worth while.

The best place locally to pick blackberries in round the edge of the village cricket pitch, the same place that provides elderflowers, the apples came from my in laws back garden.

I use a trusted recipe from the "Good Housekeeping" Cookery Book

See here for the blackberry and apple jam recipe.

Recipe Costs

£5.89 1.8kg blackberries (this is a PYO cost, tesco would set you back £23.89, mine were free)
£0.94 700g cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (equivalent cost, mine were free)
£2.51 2.7kg sugar
£0.20 knob of butter
£9.54 Total (£2.71 without buying the fruit)
£2.12 per kg jam (25% of the cost of similar jam at ocado), £0.60 without buying the fruit (7% of the cost of similar jam at ocado)

Peeled and chopped Bramley apples.

Adding sugar to the mashed apples partially cooked blackberries, the white and rich purple is an amazing contrast of colours.

After adding sugar before boiling for ten minutes, a knob of butter is added at this stage which makes the jam more glossy in appearance.

After boiling for ten minutes the apple has broken down and the jam thickened.

Potting in steralised jars with greaseproof paper discs to stop any mould developing. I usually steralise the jars by washing them well, then without touching the insides heating them to about 100 degrees centigrade in the oven, I let them cool a bit before adding the jam. I soak the lids in boiling water for 10 minutes and then shake them dry, again without touching the insides.

The finished jam is a delicious colour and thankfully ready to eat straight away, best on toast at any time of the day.

Recipe Timings

15 mins preparation
30 mins cooking
15 mins potting

Taste Test

Can't beat it really, tastes great. We have a variety of small hard blackberries in the hedges near us that survive the cooking and add a bit of texture.

Having a small boy in the house we regularly resort to rewarding good behavior  to get through trips to the supermarket, car journeys etc. (bribery). We've managed to train him to be pleased with an apple at the end of the supermarket shop (it has to be of the bright red variety), but when shopping in the town centre he's caught on to the fruit snacks sold in the local health food shop.

These are also a favorite on long car journeys, although feeding a small child with an energy giving fruit bar when you want them to sit still is probably a mistake. I'm all for supporting the local shop, but at 57p a time I'd rather find an alternative.
So I was very happy to find a recipe for fruit leather in the wonderful River Cottage Handbook No.2: Preserves by Pam Corbin. 

The recipe can be applied to any combination of fruits, and even suggests using tomatoes for a savory snack. The process is very simple, but does tie up the oven for a long time, I had to stop half way through to use the grill and then returned the drying fruit once the oven had cooled down again, I can't see this is a problem.

This recipe is taken from the River Cottage Handbook No.2: Preserves.

See here for the apple and plum leather recipe.

Recipe Costs
£1.34 1kg cooking apples (peel, chopped and cored) (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£1.58 1kg plums (stones removed) (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£0.60 Juice of 2 lemons
£ 1.98 300g honey
£5.50 Total (£2.58 without buying the fruit)
£22 per kg of leather (£10.32 without buying the fruit- about half the cost of the equivalent)

We  still have plenty of cooking apples around, and I dug a tub of stewed plums out of the freezer, these had been in there 2 years so needed using up!

The fruit was stewed and the forced through a sieve creating a smooth puree

In went a whole jar of honey, I'm not sure if this is essential for the consistency of the finished product, or just for sweetness. It would be good to know as it does seem like a lot.

The puree was spread out on greaseproof paper, my ever useful Silicone  Spatula was perfect for this, I'd also used it for pushing the fruit through the sieve earlier.

The recipe implied that after a certain period of drying in the oven the leather would peel off the paper, I couldn't get it to do this even after 24 hours, resorted to loosening it with a quick dip in a bowl of water. I had to re-dry the leather in the oven for a short while after doing this.

The resulting leather is amazing to play with, strong, flexible sheets  which you can roll up and cut with scissors. The small boy turned his nose up at them, probably because it didn't come in a bright wrapper, but I'll persevere. I've been enjoying eating strips as a mid afternoon snack and have also chopped up some small bits to add interest to the morning musili.

Recipe Timings
15 mins preparation
30 mins simmering
15 mins pureeing and spreading
24 hours cooking

Taste Test

Not as sweet as the commercial variety, although this is probably down to the amount of plums used in the recipe. The texture is lovely and chewy.