Rolly's Plum Chutney

Thanks to Bea for sharing her mother's plum chutney recipe.  You know the ones our mothers would write out on a piece of paper and slip into their favourite cookbooks.  It's fun to read these little yellowed notes- a little nostalgia in the kitchen.  These slips of paper hold so many great memories.  Ever wonder how mom made her famous and delicious cake, pie, roast, casserole?  Find yourself wishing she had written it all out for you?  Well, mom, thanks for the memories!

It will be the centrepiece of our end of August canning class, along with bread & butter pickles and peach jam.

Bea and I will recreate her mom's chutney, a treasured family recipe.  I estimate it will yield about 12 250 ml jars.  This is perfect at the end of the summer when all the fruit are plentiful.  I'm assuming a few things: the masher in the original recipe likely translates into a food grinder, I'll likely reduce the amount of sugar and we will process it in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes.



5lb   prune plums, mash the fruit before weighing
4 lb  apples
3 or 4 onions
4 lb   sugar – (2 lb white, 2 lb brown)
1 t    allspice
1 t    powdered ginger
3 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
1 qt. vinegar

Directions

Wash the fuit; core the apples and destone the plums.  Put the fruit through a food grinder or finely chop.  Weigh the fruit: 5 lbs of plums and 4 lbs of apples.  Place all the fruit in a large pot along with the spices and sugars.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until the sugars are melted.  When it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to simmer until it thickens.

Ladle your chutney into clean, dry jars.  I use a chopstick to remove any air pockets in the jars, cover with lids and place in a boiling water bath.  Boil for approximately 15 minutes.