Friday, August 27, 2010

Plum Chutney/Jam

I have to admit right away I had NO idea whatsoever what I was doing when I made this. It's simply a bunch of fruit, either too ripe to eat or too sour for my personal taste, thrown together in a pot with some sugar and a bit of liquid, simmerred until it was all cooked and reduced by about 1/3...I thought it was gonna be more like a chunky jam, but it turned out more like chutney. Either way it's amazing on toast, or meat. So it's both!

I used black plums, the mini ones. They were a little too sour for me, even after sitting on the counter for one week. I just chopped them up in quaters, without peeleing because the peel here gets really soft. I think I had about 2 cups of those. Also in there I threw in some ground cherries. Unusual I know but they were also dying in their little basket so in the pot they went. I cut the bigger ones in half and left some whole. Total amount here is unknown...I'm guessing about 1/2-3/4 cups..?(I'm really bad with mesuring when I cook!) Finally I tied it all with an apple, peeled and chopped finely.
In a pot with about 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup apple juice, I let it simmer and stirred occasionnaly for about 30 minutes, or maybe 45...added some golden raisins about half-way(i believe it was about 1/2 cup...), 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, a bit of cloves, pinch of salt and a squeeze of honey. Here it's up to you to add more sugar, depending on how tart you like things...
When it got to a nice thick consisitency I turned off the heat and let it cool.



Now I have to apologize for the lack of pictures...it was a little tricky to get the right color to come out...this is the only one I was able to get that actually looks like it really is! Dark and chunky and really delicious. Alos I didn't know how it would turn out so I didn't really "document" anything during the process...sorry...next time...

I can't wait to experiment and make other sorta chutneys and jams with different fruits!

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