Cottage Smallholder Plum Chutney or Damson Chutney
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chutney and Pickles, Jam Jelly and Preserves | 222 comments
a wicker basket full of wild plums
This chutney recipe works well with plums, wild plums or damsons. It does not need months to mature and keeps well
I had some spare time today so finally retrieved the stock pot from Danny, swooshed it out with bicarbonate of soda to get rid of the taint of clove chutney (see Tricks and Tips below) and found the plum chutney recipe from Anne Mary’s old cook book. This was going to be the base of our own Cottage Smallholder Chutney.
I had collected three pounds of windfall wild plums yesterday and simmered them last night for 20 minutes in 75 ml of white wine vinegar. This is Delia’s canny trick to avoid stoning fresh plums for chutney (use some of the vinegar that you are going to use for your brew). This morning, grabbing a handful at a time, it was easy to find the stones and remove them (our wild plum stones are tiny, barely a centimetre long).
At breakfast we studied Anne Mary’s recipe and decided how we would change it to create a plum chutney that we would be proud of. Danny had to go to London so pinpointed his essential ingredients for our chutney – balsamic vinegar and juniper berries. As I was the one who ruined the last “Let’s make our own” batch with too many cloves, I decided that our chutney was definitely going to work this time.
There was a clove shaped crisis of confidence. And consequently the alterations that I made today were incrementally smalll. This meant hours of tasting, comparisons and retasting, until I felt quite queasy from ingesting so much chutney. (At least a jar without lunch). It has now simmered (tiny bubbles barely breaking the surface) for five hours. When you draw a wooden spoon through the chutney, it is thick enough to see where you have been. It is finally done, and approved for release. We have made a great plum chutney, extra fruity and piquant.
Danny returned exhausted from London and sniffed the aroma as he walked into the kitchen. There was a long silence as he grabbed a spoon and rushed to the stock pot for a taste. His response was positive. Our recipe is below..
Our latest Plum and Tamarind Chutney recipe is here.
Tricks and Tips:
- How do I get rid of tainted smells in pots?
If your cooking pot or container is tainted with the smell of the last resident (curry, tomato sauce etc). Sprinkle with a good tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda into it and add a good splosh of hot water. Rub the solution over all surfaces and leave for two minutes. Rinse well in cold water.
- How do I sterilise jars and lids?
The sterilising method that we use is simple. Just before making the jam, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
| Cottage Smallholder Plum Chutney or Damson Chutney |
- 3lbs/1350g wild plums/damsons/eating plums
- 1lb/450g of apples (cored but not skinned). Chopped fine. Cooking apples are best but eating apples would do at a pinch.
- 1 lb/450g onions chopped fine
- 10.5 ozs/300g dried apricots (chopped at least into eight)
- 7 ozs/200g dried raisins (chopped into four)
- Half lb-1lb/225g-450g of soft brown sugar, depending on how sweet your wild plums/damsons/eating plums are. We’d usehalf a lb of sugar for eating plums but used 1lb for this batch as we were using wild plums (these are very tart like damsons).
- 2 large cloves of garlic chopped fine
- Half tsp of cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of allspice powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1and a half pints/750 ml of white wine vinegar
- 1 small hot chilli
- 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
- 5 juniper berries
- 10 black peppercorns
- Stone the plums and if big enough cut into slices.
- Chop the apples, onions, raisins and apricots.
- Place all ingredients in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and bring slowly to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down immediately and simmer very gently (tiny bubbles just breaking the surface on the lowest heat) for at least five hours until the mixture has broken down and thickens.
- Stir from time to time and more towards the end. If your simmering point is higher than ours, your chutney will be ready sooner. Take a peek every half hour or so. The chutney will thicken as it cools.
- When ready pour into sterilised jars and cover with plastic lined metal lids (how do I sterilise jars and lids? See Tips and Tricks above).
Leave a reply
Great recipe this. What I like about it is that you bung everything in and just simmer it, no messing about. We use windfall or wasp eaten Victoria plums and any windfall apples, cookers probably are better but I doubt essential. We’ve been making it for several years and it keeps very well, if you can avoid eating it long enough that is.
We keep old jars, clean them thoroughly, and when its time to bottle the pickle, put jars and lids in a steamer for about ten minutes. Decant the pickle into the jars whilst both are still hot and screw the lid on. As they cool a vacuum is produced and the lid seals well. This is how its done in industry but in large ‘steam sealing machines’. If you have a click top lid, the lid should pop in as it cools.
Hi David
Thanks very much for your tips. Much appreciated.
We a;lways use old jars and lids too!
I made my first batch ever of relish/chutney, substituted capsicum for a short measure of apricots and used middle amount of sugar. Researched lots of recipes, this one was the most informative. Gave it out immediately and have now had feedback from friends that ‘the relish’ is fantastic. I think it is too but will up the sugar in the next batch and have now found some juniper berries. Hvae kept half a dozen bottles to see what they are like in a month or so.
Have just found a tree with Angelina plums ( small as Bendigo has been v hot and dry) Am now looking for an Ang plum recipe
it was wonderful to get your receipe an use the dawson plums i live in victoria australia. thank you so much the receipe is great.
Hi Ann
No they are not essential but they do add to the depth of flavour 🙂
thank you for this grreat recipe, I am about to go out and buy the ingredients, sorry to see the comments seemed to stop just when we reached a crucial question, are juniper berries essential or not?
cheers
ann
YOUR ADVICE IS SHOCKINGLY WRONG!!!!!!!!
How dare you suggest leaving the plum chutney for a month to mature. My Doctor could have put me on a no chutney diet, I could have died without ever tasting it. Just made 3 delicious lbs.
Whole family love
Awrabest
Thanks Ian Fernbank, Wester Ross
Hi Everyone
I have just discovered this websire while searching for ideas for plums ! I am a real novice having just moved to a house with a huge plum tree ….will definately give the chutney recipe a go but are juniper berries vital ? or what could i replace them with ?
Also any tips for freezing plums a few of you have mentioned that you do
Thanks very much
Jen
Hi,
I’m very excited to find this recipe as I found my first wild plum tree yesterday and am keep to give this chutney a try.
Does anyone else have problems with little wriggly friends in the middle of the plums? What do you do? Just boil them up and hope no-one notices? : )
Hi Samantha
I’m sorry not to have specified which apples to use. I use our cookers as they have more flavour. Ordinary eating aplles would work too – a softer flavour all round. Have updated the recipe.
Many thanks, I have now made it and it looks lovely. I used our aga (bottom oven mostly) and it was the apple pieces that took the longest to soften down. I used our cooking apples as you didn’t specify whether cooking or eating apples should be used. Samantha.