Kate Johnson: When life gives you peaches, make chutney (recipe)

Last season I was thrilled to be buried in the most delicious organic peaches grown by my good friend, bandmate and garden guru Cory King. I ended up taking two large boxes off of his hands as he was overwhelmed with his harvest. I made peach jam with some, but then decided to make a large batch of peach chutney.

I scoured the Internet for different recipes and ended up using one that came from itsnotcomplicatedrecipes.com. I wanted something that had some spice to it and, in the end, I chose well! This recipe was delicious.

I will warn ahead, however, that I quadrupled the following recipe (using weights not measurements) and it ended up making far more than the recipe “yield.” This resulted in me preparing jars twice and then ultimately resorting to using my Foodsaver and freezing what was left after all of that canning. That was all fine, because I found out that using the Foodsaver was a really great way to go for the chutney that I kept for our home use. For gifting, I did like having the jars and one of the photos includes a little note that I attached to each jar giving 16 serving suggestions.

As most of you who make jellies, jams, or other condiments from scratch know, it is very disappointing when your product does not get put to good use! Chutney is an item that many folks simply do not know what to do with … so this helps them out. I got rave reviews on this chutney and personally ate and enjoyed every bit of what we kept. I hope you will enjoy it as well!

Fresh Peach Chutney

Yield: 10 - 4 ounce jars or 5 - 8 ounce jars

Ingredients

3 1/2 pounds peaches

3 3⁄4 cups (750 g) brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

2 teaspoon ground ginger

8 whole cloves

1⁄2 cup (90 g) golden raisins

2 teaspoon sea salt

2 long red chilies – seeds removed and finely chopped (leave seeds if you want spicy)

3 cups (750 ml) apple cider vinegar

2 Granny Smith apples – unpeeled and grated

3 medium red onions – finely chopped

Directions

Preparing Jars:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Use glass canning jars - wash the jars, lids and rings (while you can reuse the jars and rings you should always use new lids) with hot soapy water and rinse well. Place jars, rings and lids on a baking tray and heat in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

Alternatively I also ended up using a vacuum packaging machine and stored the packs in my freezer. This worked VERY well. It thawed quickly and tasted just as delicious as the canned chutney.

Chutney:

To peel the peaches, fill a medium sized saucepan half-full with water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare a medium sized bowl of iced water.

Make a cross incision on the base of the peaches and place them in the boiling water for approximately 20 seconds.

Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon and place in the iced water bath to stop the cooking process. Remove the peach from the iced water when it is cool enough to handle. Use a small, sharp knife to peel the skin - it will peel easily. Cut each peach in half and remove the pit and any bruises.

Cut the peaches into large chunks (1 inch or so). Place the peaches and remaining ingredients into a large, non-reactive stockpot. Stir over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the chutney to a boil and boil vigorously for about one hour, stirring from time to time (you may need to cover with a mesh screen as it will spit hot liquid). Toward the end of the cooking time, the liquid will have reduced, and you will need to stir the chutney more frequently to avoid burning. Once it has thickened to your liking, remove from heat and remove and discard the cinnamon stick.

If canning: remove your sterilized jars from the oven one at a time and fill with chutney leaving an inch of space at the top. Clean the edge of the jar with a clean wet cloth and place the lid and ring - tighten, but do not over tighten. Place in a water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and allow each jar to cool and seal (you can hear them “click” as they seal or lightly touch the center to know if they are properly sealed). Date and label each jar and store for up to one year in your pantry. If you wait approximately 2-4 weeks before eating it gives the chutney time to amalgamate and the vinegar to mellow. Always use a clean, dry spoon when removing to avoid spoilage and store in the refrigerator after opening.

Alternatively, if you end up using a Foodsaver and freezing, just fill your desired sized bag with chutney and use the moist option when you seal. Date and label and place in the freezer. When you are ready to use, take from the freezer and place in the fridge to thaw - it does not take long. Once thawed you can open and place into a storage container that should be refrigerated until eaten.