Apple chutney: vinegar, sugar and the dry-bottom test
Chutney comes from India; the British brought it to Europe and adapted it to their own fruit. It differs from jam in one thing: vinegar, of which there is as much as sugar. The acid does not only preserve; it keeps chutney from being merely sweet, making it sweet, sour and spiced — a thing for cheese and cold meat rather than for toast. The moment it is ready is told by one test: a spoon drawn across the base leaves a trail that does not flood back.
Your own work in that: 45 min.
- Chopping 25 min
- Simmering 75 min
- Jars 20 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneDice everything to one size
Peel and core the apples and cut them into 1 cm dice. Chop the onion as finely, grate the ginger and crush the garlic. Even dice is not aesthetics: over an hour of cooking, large pieces stay hard while small ones collapse into purée.
Ingredients: 1200 g apples · 2 pcs onions · 150 g raisins · 30 g fresh ginger · 3 cloves garlic
TipChoose <b>tart, firm</b> apples. Very soft-cooking varieties, such as Bramley or Antonovka, quickly collapse into a uniform purée, and chutney is about recognisable pieces of fruit.
One centimetre, everything the samePut everything in the pot at once
In a wide pot combine the apples, onion, raisins, ginger, garlic, vinegar, sugar, salt and all the spices. Bring to the boil, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Chutney is one of the few recipes where the order of addition does not matter.
Ingredients: 350 ml cider vinegar · 350 g brown sugar · 1½ tsp salt
All at once, until the sugar dissolvesSimmer an hour uncovered
Simmer over low heat, uncovered, 60–75 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. The mixture darkens from pale to deep amber and halves in volume. The smell of vinegar, sharp at first, softens into something spiced.
Ingredients: 2 tsp mustard seeds · 1 pcs cinnamon stick · 5 pcs cloves · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp peppercorns
TipTurn the extractor on. Evaporating vinegar is distinctly acrid for the first half hour and can fill a whole flat.
Do the dry-bottom test
Draw a wooden spoon across the base of the pot. If the trail stays clear for 2–3 seconds before flooding back, the chutney is done. If it closes immediately, cook another 10 minutes and test again.
The trail holds for two secondsRemove the spices and jar it
Fish out the cinnamon stick and cloves (or leave them if you like finding them). Spoon the boiling chutney into scalded jars, leaving 1 cm of headspace, seal and invert for 10 minutes. Process 15 minutes to be safe.
Boiling, into scalded jars
Before you start
Wait a month
Fresh chutney is sharp with vinegar and its flavours are still unsettled. After a month in the pantry the flavours marry and the acid mellows — it is worth the wait. It is at its best after three months.
What to serve it with
Mature cheeses (cheddar, gouda), cold meats, curry, or a roast turkey sandwich. In Britain it is a common partner on a cheeseboard, alongside bread and butter.
Other fruit
Plums, pears, apricots, green tomatoes, rhubarb. The rule holds: as much sugar as vinegar, about 300 g and 300 ml per kilo of fruit, plus warm spices. It is one of the most forgiving recipes in preserving.
How long it keeps
A year in a dark pantry, an open jar a month in the fridge. The generous amount of vinegar and sugar is what lets processed chutney sit safely at room temperature.