Scandinavian Chutney
The apples in the tree behind my building are getting ripe now, though they seem to need a week or so yet. Anyway, I went out today with a ladder and the fruit picker and got a bunch, and then went inside to google for chutney recipes. Then I remembered that I have half a carrier bag with lingonberries in the freezer that a friend gave me years ago, and wondered if apples and lingonberries would make a good chutney combo. It would certainly make for a very Scandinavian version!
It turned out rather nice, I thought. Now, the thing with a chutney is that it should ideally sit for a few weeks before opening to make the flavour mature, so I can't yet tell if this was a truly successful attempt, but here's what I did:
Apple and Lingonberry Chutney
800 g of peeled, cored and diced apples
200 g fresh or frozen lingonberries
1-2 onions, chopped
a fistful of raisins (ca. 50 ml)
2 tbsp (30 ml) finely chopped fresh ginger
½ stick of cinnamon
½ tsp salt (~2.5 ml)
200 ml sugar -- I used organic golden cane and dark muscovado)
Stuff the lot in a big enough pot (it will reduce as it cooks) and boil on low heat for 40-50 minutes. Stir every now and again, depending on how firm your apples are. Pour into hot, sterilised glass jars, put on lids, and leave to cool. (I sterilise the jars in the oven and the lids by boiling them in a saucepan.) This makes about 1 litre of chutney.
I didn't add any preservative this time, since the lingonberries supposedly contain natural preservative. It remains to be seen whether the amount was enough to actually be effective. (I made another batch of chutney a few days ago with wild plums (what the English call "damsons") that a friend gave me, and some apples, but it turned out very tangy and also very hot, since I added a bit of fresh chili that turned out to have more bite than I expected. I did add preservative to that, and didn't like the effect it had on the flavour.)
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