South Yorkshire Food

The Best Chutney

Recipe: Keren Bobker

The recipe  makes a LOT and requires two large saucepans – so you could halve the quantities.

Fresh ingredients

• 2lbs (900g) onions, sliced
• 2lb Bramley cooking apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 pkt fresh cranberries 12oz (340g)
• 2 pints cider vinegar
• Zest 2 oranges
• 1oz (28g) fresh ginger chopped finely
• 1tbsp coarse sea salt
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• 100g sugar

Dried ingredients

• 2lb naturally dried apricots coarsely chopped
• 1 pkt of dates pitted and chopped (175g/6oz)
• 1lb raisins
• Juice of 8 oranges or 1pint orange juice.

You will also need:

• 2lb (900g) English sugar (or more to taste)

Method

1. First, put the dried fruit into a bowl and pour the orange juice over it, to soak.
2. Place the first block of ingredients (the fresh ingredients) into a saucepan and cook gently, until the onion is pale and see-through and the cranberries have given up some of their colour, turning the contents pale pink.
3. Add the dried fruit – which will have absorbed much of the orange juice – to the saucepan, together with the sugar.
4. Bring up to a simmering boil, stirring frequently so the contents don’t ‘catch’ on the bottom of the saucepan. Cook for approx 1 ½ hours, more if doesn’t achieve the right looking consistency.