I love feeding people and it rains baked goods on my friends, family and co-workers. And I love  Christmas. Put the two together and it’s time to give the gift of homemade food.   I look for things that are durable and keep for some time.  There’s so much food at Christmas that you don’t want to give food with a short shelf life.  Two of my favourites are Christmas cranberry chutney (this blog post) and stollen, my next blog post. 

My children love cranberry sauce that comes from a can.  So much so that the Davinator made a special dish for the canned stuff that shows off the perfect rings.  But most adults find it too sweet.  I make a cranberry chutney that goes well with turkey, chicken, ham and I’ve even spotted it on a cold beef sandwich.    

Preparation of the chutney is fairly simple.  If you’re going to eat it yourself, it’s easy to let it cool, put it in a storage container and keep it in the fridge.  It keeps well for a week or more.  But if you’re going to ‘gift’ it, you will need to sterilise the jars and put the chutney in jars when it is still hot.  Your chutney should keep for six to eight months although I’ve never had it last longer than a few weeks.  However, it also means that it doesn’t need to be refrigerated and thus good for gifting.  

Chutney recipes are usually flexible; the cranberries are essential (its in the name)and they give the chutney it’s beautiful colour. But I’ve used mango instead of pears & apples and I usually look around the kitchen for any spare fruit that might suit.

If you’re an experienced preserver of food, skip this section.  But if not, I highly recommend this BBC Good Food video  They sterilise the jars in the oven and boil the lids and rims.  I use a jam funnel to help fill the jars (way better than the jug they recommend in the video).  I sterilise the funnel, some tongs and a couple of big spoons at the same time as I’m filling the jars. 

My secret weapon is a pair of heatproof gloves.  These are really helpful for handling the tongs, the jars, etc.    These aren’t life changing but really have their moments.  Mine are a sort of knit and I try hard to keep them away from the boiling water because they soak it up like a sponge.  

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Recipe and instructions

Ingredients

2  large onions, chopped

150 grams  minced ginger (save your time, use the jarred stuff from Waitrose)

360 mls wine or cider vinegar

200 grams of brown sugar 

Juice and grated peel from 2 large oranges

4 garlic cloves either chopped fine or pushed through a press

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if you don’t want some zing)

4 large tart apples, chopped into say 1/2 pieces (no need for precision but too big and it’s hard to put on a sandwich, too small and they dissolve in cooking)

4 pears, chopped in the same manner as the apples

1 kilo of cranberries

A small cinnamon stick for each jar. 

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Instructions

1. Put all ingredients from the onions through to the red pepper flakes in a big pot (not aluminium) and bring to simmer.
2. Add the apples, simmer for five minutes.  Add the pears and cook for another five minutes. 
3. Add the cranberries, bring to a boil and then back it down to a slow simmer.  Cooking time will vary depending on what kind of pot you use.  I would estimate 30 minutes and then start checking on consistency.   The Davinator likes his chutney of a spreadable consistency but sticky enough to hang onto the sandwich.  Or cheese.   Use your imagination, he puts chutney on it.  
4. Start getting your jars and lids ready.   To prevent bacteria (and thereby have wasted your time) the chutney needs to go in the jars while the jars AND the chutney are both hot.  If you’re comfortable with this process, go for it.  If not, go watch this video! 
5. I like using the jam funnel to fill the jars, but make sure it fits in the jars. Great tip from BBC Good Food – get more job ready than you need.  I filled 6 x 400 ml jars.  I often do several different sizes.   
6. Fill the jars and carefully put a cinnamon stick in the hot chutney.  Then put the lids on.   Use your imagination to decorate the jars.  Pinterest is a great place to get ideas; go there and search ‘jam jar decoration’.  If you haven’t used Pinterest, I’m not trying to ruin your life.  Some people have too much time…….
7. This should keep for about six months but refrigerate as soon as opened and use in a week.  

Enjoy your Christmas preparations.  It is the most wonderful time of the year.