We were running out of chutney. The Green Tomato Chutney I made in September was almost gone. Although I shared Katie Stewart’s advice to wait a month before eating the chutney to allow it to mature, the family barely managed a week. Grandsons Freddie (9) and Ben (6), who’d initially been sceptical that anything made with green tomatoes could taste nice, were wanting to eat it by the spoonful. My son declared he liked it more than my ripe tomato chutney of the previous year as he piled a generous helping on to a plate with Vintage Cheddar and crusty sourdough for lunch. As the jars emptied, I declared that making more green tomato chutney wasn’t going to be possible for another year. I’d made it when my home-grown tomatoes gave up ripening due to the disappointing summer we had, but you can’t buy green tomatoes in the supermarket – or even the farmers’ market. I could make some more ripe tomato chutney, I suggested . . . but then plums came to mind. There were a lot of plums in the shops and I’ve bought plum chutney in the past which I’ve liked a lot. I scoured my cookbooks and the internet and came across a great-sounding recipe in my Rick Stein At Home book.  

I like Rick’s recipes: they tend to be reliable and they’re recipes easily prepared at home. This one for plum chutney seemed a bit more up to date than the ones from my old books – although they’d worked well – using red wine vinegar rather than malt vinegar, and adding ingredients like fresh ginger. Yes, I thought, this sounds like my kind of recipe. So plums and ginger and the other ingredients not already in my kitchen were bought; empty jars were taken from a storage cupboard and washed and sterilised. Hopefully the family would like the new chutney as much as the green tomato one, but they would at least not be too challenged on timing . . . Rick recommends waiting a mere week or two before eating it!

Plum Chutney – Makes 4 or 5 x 450g jars

• 1kg ripe dark-skinned plums, stoned and chopped
• 3 red onions, finely chopped
• 150g sultanas
• 30g root ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 500g soft brown sugar
• 450ml red wine vinegar

I followed Rick’s recipe fairly faithfully and it’s incredibly easy to make as you just put everything in a large pan, stir and bring to the boil and cook for about an hour. However, I did cut down on the sugar a little, using 500g rather than his suggested 600g. I often cut down sugar quantities nowadays, not just for ‘health’ benefits but because my taste has adjusted to eating less sugar in recent years and I don’t want things to taste too sweet. The end chutney was still quite sweet – though still gorgeous – and I might try less sugar another time. It has to be a balance though as the sugar acts as a preservative and also helps thicken the mixture. Rick also add a large pinch of ground cloves, but I can’t bear cloves so I left it out – but you might want to add them.

 

Halve the plums and take out the stone. Then chop into smallish pieces. Rick didn’t give a size but I cut each half plum into 3 slices, then cut across 2 or 3 more times to give 6-9 pieces of around 1-2cm across (they were a bit triangular in shape). Put them straight into a large pan. 

Rick didn’t specify what type of onions to use and I decided to use red, which I use more and more and thought would be good in this chutney. Again, he just said ‘3 onions’ so I picked out 3 medium-sized ones.

 

Here I diverted from the recipe a bit and followed Katie Stewart’s advice from my Green Tomato Chutney recipe. Katie recommends simmering the chopped onion in boiling water for 5 minutes, saying that vinegar can harden onion so best to soften it first. Then drain.

Add the sultanas, grated ginger, chilli flakes, salt, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and black pepper. I didn’t measure out the black pepper but just freshly ground a generous amount into the mixture.

Tip in the drained onion and then add the sugar.

 

Add the red wine vinegar and give it all a good stir. 

Bring to the boil, stirring frequently to help the sugar dissolve. Once it’s boiling, turn the temperature down a little but maintain a ‘rolling, bubbling’ simmer and leave to cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until it’s well thickened and the plums are soft and starting to break down. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.

While the chutney is cooking get your jars ready. I always put empty jars through the dishwasher before storing them, but when I take them out to use for something like chutney, I give them a good rinse with boiling water. Then I put them on a rack upside-down in a low oven to dry and keep warm. I also run boiling water over the inside of the lids and cut circles of greaseproof paper to go on the top of the chutney once it’s in the jar.

When the chutney is ready – now dark and gorgeously thick – carefully ladle it into the jars. Put a circle of greaseproof paper on top and then screw the lid on tightly while it’s still hot. This creates a vacuum that helps the chutney keep well. Leave to cool and then label. Wait a week or two, if you can, to eat it – as Rick suggests – and he says it will keep for 6-12 months in a cool, dark place.

I tasted a little, of course, to check it had come out well. It’s delicious. The chilli has quite a kick, which I like, but if you’re not chilli-minded you might like to use a little less. Hopefully this new chutney will meet with the same enthusiasm from the family as my last. Goodness knows how long it will last. Watch this space for another chutney in the not-too-distant future!