We had a power outage late last night that lasted for almost 12 hours and today the power has been going off and on intermittently. We used to get power outages much more frequently previous to the last 10 years but it looks like they may become more of a feature in the years ahead. The most common cause rurally are trees falling on the lines and causing damage that can often take days to fix. Instead of taking my mum to the movies as planned we decided to stay put and making peach chutney became the order of the day.
This chutney is by far the most popular I make. In season I halve, stone and freeze our peaches in small bags for this purpose.
This Digby Law recipe is spicy and gingery. Fitting that I’m currently listening to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children on Audio which is narrated out of a pickle factory in India. Snap!
Ingredients; 1 kg stoned peaches, 3 &1/2 cups malt vinegar, 2 cloves garlic finely chopped, 100gm preserved ginger finely chopped, 500gm dates finely chopped, 500gm raisins, 1kg brown sugar, 2tsp cayenne pepper, 2 Tablespoons plain salt.
Method; Chop the peaches fairly finely and bring to the boil with the vinegar and garlic. Simmer until the fruit is soft (not long)
Add the remaining ingredients and boil for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into hot clean jars and seal.
This chutney can be used with curries or with cheese. My current fave is with avocado on toast or crackers. Enjoy!