Courgette Chutney

The boy fished out a jar of chutney to have with a salad of ham and cheese. From the label, I can see it’s 3 years old, but stupidly didn’t write on it what went in it. It’s delicious and very close to Branston Pickle. As the boy is the Sandwich Monster he loves it with some Double Gloucester or Red Leicester. I’m going to have to make some more. I’m using courgettes as that is what we have a lot of.

1kg courgettes

1kg tomatoes

500g apples

500g onions

300g sultanas

500g soft brown sugar

600ml white wine vinegar

2tsp chilli flakes (minimum)

Mixed spices (your choice)

Lots of preparation here but it will be worth it – even if you don’t get to appreciate it for years. The boy is helping so he is choosing the music. Surprisingly he goes for a harpsichord version of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

The apples are from the tree in our garden. They are always kind of sour but that’s okay. Core and chop them. Skin the tomatoes by dropping them in boiling water and peel and chop the onions. Our compost bin will be very happy. The boy gets to cart all the waste across the garden – in the rain.

I use a little oil to start frying the onion and then add the courgettes and finally the tomatoes, which will add lots of moisture. But not enough. Pour in the vinegar and quickly stir in the sugar and spices. These are up to you. The boy is enjoying being imaginative here, going for allspice,  ginger, cinnamon, pepper and coriander. All good choices.

Argue about how much chilli to use. I think 2tsp is the minimum as it will settle down in the jar. But the boy thinks 2tsp is plenty., so that’s what we’re going with (I’m heaping the teaspoons as much as I can get away with). Add the sultanas. Any other dried fruit would be nice – chopped dried apricots would work really well.

So now we have a boiling mass that smells mostly of boiling vinegar. The boy has had enough and has gone to read his book. The CD had finished so Radio 4 it is. You’ll need something to interest you as it takes ages to bubble down. Loads of recipes say 20 to 40 minutes but I’ve known this to  take 2 hours. I’m guessing it depends on how much moisture there is in the courgettes. Stir fairly frequently. This has a lot of sugar in it and if it burns it will ruin your pan.

When it’s nice and thick, jar it up. As it matures it will get darker and darker, and more mellow. Leave it for at least 3 months if you can. As I said, the boy came across a 3 year old batch and it was amazing.