12 days of homemade Christmas presents
Day 8, Stonefruit and red currant chutney???? 

Prep time 20 mins
Cook time 30-35 mins
Makes about 3 jars (depending on their size!)

This is absolutely delicious served with warm ham and crusty bread, dolloped on a quiche or zucchini slice, served with terrine, spread over a chunk of good cheddar cheese or spooned onto plates of barbecued short loin lamb chops and/or sausages. In short – it’s very useful and makes a great present.

You can use any stonefruit you like here; apricots, peaches, nectarines or plums would all be great. And the red currants add a gorgeous pop of tart flavour and of course colour but if they aren’t in season/available at a reasonable price, just make up the weight with more stone fruit.

If you are a new preserver, please do try a chutney – they are much more forgiving than jam, there’s far less rules and much more room to improvise with ingredients.

1kg stone fruit, halved, seed removed then cut into quarters (for this recipe I used apricots)
2 brown onions, peeled and finely diced
250g cranberries (dried)
250g red currants (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp sea salt
2 cups (440g) brown sugar
6cm piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
A good pinch of dried chilli flakes (or to taste)
2 cups (500ml) apple cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy-based pan over medium-low heat. Cook for a few minutes, until the sugar dissolves then increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Now bump back heat to medium-low and cook for about 45 minutes or until glossy and thick. Stir often so it doesn’t catch and burn on the bottom of the pan. Transfer to sterilised jars. This recipe comes from my book #abasketbythedoor