Plum & Apple Chutney - maybe a little early

So, we got back from our holiday in Alnwick yesterday to find lots of ripe plums and cooking apples. I know it's August, but the combination of the cold winter, lots of rain and then plenty of sunshine has super-charged the ripening of our fruit. I've added a picture of the plums, not that you don't know what a plum is, more I am really pleased about this year's harvest.

Also in the garden we have damsons that a little tart at the moment and some ready to eat blackberries.

With all of this fruit, we couldn't let it go to waste so we decided to make some chutney. This morning I spent some time searching the Internet for some interesting recipes and happened upon a couple, one from Pam Corbin via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the other on the bbcgoodfood website. I've ended up blending the two together due to the availability of the other ingredients in our larder.

The recipe that I've gone for in the end is

1kg plums, quartered and stoned
1.5kg apples, peeled, cored and diced
500g onions
100g stoned prunes, roughly chopped
100g raisins
500g dark muscovado sugar
450ml cider vinegar or white-wine vinegar
Salt
For the spice bag
3 star anise
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp smoked cracked black pepper
1 cinnamon stick

Once everything had been prepared, I put all of the ingredients into the largest pan that we have (note to self - stop being so frugal and buy a preserving pan!), brought to the boil and now it's on simmer.

It's been on simmer for the past hour and a quarter. This blog is taking a little bit longer to write as I need to keep nipping off to stir the pan to prevent it from sticking on the bottom. It's reducing quite nicely at the moment.

Whilst it's cooking I'd like to mention Harrison & Dunn our local hardware shop in south Lincolnshire. So traditional that I think that this is the closest that they've got to an Internet presence (I can't find any others), but they have everything you could ever need! What size of preserving jar do you need? Do you need any muslin, replacement jar seals, wax discs? You name, they've got it! Sorry, got to go and give it another stir...

I'll add to this post once I've started to fill the preserving jars with the chutney.

Now all done. Ladled into sterilised jars and put away for a couple of months or so...