blog #329 >> Plum Chutney

I actually made up my own recipe for this one. The only plum chutney recipes I found had pretty terrible reviews, but I found one mango chutney recipe with really good reviews. So I ended up combining them. I used the spices from the mango chutney and the ratios from the plum chutney. Only it was still too bitter, so I added more sugar in the end. I also added about a half of a box of pectin. It was suppose to "jell" but even after boiling for two hours it never really did. At last I gave up and added the pectin. Only now I'm worried that I made it too thick. The jars seem fine right now, but the tiny bit I put in the frig to taste turned really "sticky." Perhaps that is just because it was refrigerated, or because it was such a small amount. I don't know. But I can't wait to open a jar. They all sealed and I only had a tiny bit left over to taste. If anything I got the flavor down, it tastes delicious!

Here's my recipe, it's basically my chai tea recipe with garlic, onions, vinegar, currents, and plums.

The spices:
10 whole allspice or 1/4 tea. ground
8 whole peppercorns or 1/8 tea. ground
3 whole cloves or 1/8 tea. ground
1/4 tea. crushed cinnamon stick or 1/4 tea. ground
1/8 tea. nutmeg
a pinch of chili pepper
(crush together in a mortar and pedestal or in a coffee grinder, unless you're using regular spices.)
1 T. grated ginger (freezing it first is the trick.)
1/2 a clove of garlic

• • • • • • •

1/4 cup golden raisins, regular raisins, or currants, or a mix or all three. I used currants.
1/2 cup minced red onion (or any color really)
6 cups chopped plums
3 cups brown sugar
3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (5% acid)
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar (5% acid)
(In hindsight, I think I would have preferred all cider vinegar, but I suppose it depends on your taste, you can also use plain white distilled.)

• • • • • • •

Mix everything in a big pot and boil it for a really, really, really long time. I ended up boiling mine for somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours. And you're going to need to stir that almost continuously. Now hopefully yours will "jell" mind didn't and I added a half a box of pectin. Now I'm thinking that was the wrong thing to do, and it would have jelled when it cooled down. I'll update this when I open a jar and find out for sure.

Process in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Yields 6 half-pint jars

Let me know if you decide to try it!
T