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One of the pear varieties (similar in assurance to a Comice pear, but holds its shape when cooked) on our dual graft pear tree is ripe. I allow the fruit to ripen on the tree and daily check the fruit picking up any windfall and touching each of the pears to see if they come off in my hand. If they do, they are picked and set aside. I'm taking about 6½-7kg everyday at the moment, except for a +10kg day yesterday...
So pear chutney is being made en mass. We eat chutney everyday with lunch so I don't mind varying the recipe slightly making some batches more spicy, others adding ginger or varying the dried fruit added in each batch for variety. If you don't like it too spicy, half an of the spice quantities.
The first batch I made you as per the original recipe, but it has way too much sugar in it, considerably so, in fact we ended up adding 250ml of lime juice to that batch and still found it very sweet. It also wasn't very spicy either so because we're used to spicy food and prefer chutney with a kick, we've modified the recipe quite a bit. The original recipe (The English Kitchen) is also a weird mix of imperial, metric and American weights and apparently takes 1hr 80 minutes to make,
.
Ingredients
1-1½ kg prepared weight pears (start with 1½-2kg of pears)
1kg onions
4 large cloves garlic, minced
150g dried unsweetened cranberries (sultanas/raisains/currents/ dried cherries can also be used)
750ml apple cider vinegar
150-175g tomato puree/paste/concentrate
200g soft light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
½-1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1-2 tbsp finely grated or pureed ginger (optional)
1 tsp salt
Method
Edit: pictures finally added.
So pear chutney is being made en mass. We eat chutney everyday with lunch so I don't mind varying the recipe slightly making some batches more spicy, others adding ginger or varying the dried fruit added in each batch for variety. If you don't like it too spicy, half an of the spice quantities.
The first batch I made you as per the original recipe, but it has way too much sugar in it, considerably so, in fact we ended up adding 250ml of lime juice to that batch and still found it very sweet. It also wasn't very spicy either so because we're used to spicy food and prefer chutney with a kick, we've modified the recipe quite a bit. The original recipe (The English Kitchen) is also a weird mix of imperial, metric and American weights and apparently takes 1hr 80 minutes to make,
.
Ingredients
1-1½ kg prepared weight pears (start with 1½-2kg of pears)
1kg onions
4 large cloves garlic, minced
150g dried unsweetened cranberries (sultanas/raisains/currents/ dried cherries can also be used)
750ml apple cider vinegar
150-175g tomato puree/paste/concentrate
200g soft light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
½-1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1-2 tbsp finely grated or pureed ginger (optional)
1 tsp salt
Method
- Dice the onions and place them into a large saucepan or preserving pan. Chop of the stalk, then peel, quarter, core and dice the pears adding them to the same pan. The dice size sound be slightly larger than the lumps of pear you want in the chutney. Place over a medium heat and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and set aside for when the onion & pears are ready.
- When the pear & onion mixture is sitting in a few centimeters of juices, add the acv/spice/dried fruit/sugar mix to the pan, bring to the boil & cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently for 1½-2 hours.
- In the meantime, get your jars & lids sterilizing in another pan of boiling water. Ensure that they are well covered with water and remember to sterilize your ladle and wide necked funnel as well. Drain on a clean dry tea-towel leaving the jars upside down until ready to use.
- Once your chutney is ready (the pear chunks will have turned the same colour as the brown sugar and spices) & you are happy with the taste (now is the time to tinker with spices if needed), carefully ladle the chutney into the jars, put on the lids, and allow them to cool and the lids pop closed. Remember to label & date your jars when cool.
Edit: pictures finally added.
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