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The Blog Of Dan

Making Chutneys

Over the Summer, I ended up growing a fair amount of chilli plants, varying in different heat levels from low to high. I grew Masquerade, Thai Red, Basket Of Fire, Habanero, Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad Scorpion.

I decided to start to cook with them, and thought why not make some Chutneys. As my friend Matt has just started a Red Onion Chutney. I like spicy food and Chutneys always make a good accompaniment to cheese and meat.

The first Chutney I made was a Red Onion Chutney. It used 14 Basket Of Fire Chilli’s with a Scoville Scale rating of 80,00 per Chilli. However due to the long cooking time the spice did start to dull and Sugar does also dissipate the Chilli strength to a degree. Overall it was a nice sweet spicy chutney that paired well with Cream Cheese and Cold Meat.

With the Red Onion Chutney, I also made it with the Bhut Jolokia on a much smaller batch run of two jars rather than the normal 5 that I make. The Bhut Jolokia (1 and a half) gave the Chutney a nice spicy fruity taste. It was balanced well as the spice did not over power the Onions.

The next Chutney I made was a Tomato Chilli Chutney. This Chutney had 7 Basket Of Fire Chilli’s in it. However I was aiming for something which only had background spice and this Chutney had exactly that. It was sweet but with a little spice. This Chutney being on the sweet side, would make a general table Chutney.

The next Chutney I made was a Mango Chilli Chutney. This is a rather spicy sweet Chutney. It’s not over powering in spice. It contains one Orange Habanero Chilli. You taste the sweetness of the Mangos, then the herbs and spices and then you are left with a nice chilli kick at the end. It’s perfect for Cheese and Cold Meats.

The last Chutney I have made so far is a Lime Chilli Chutney. This Chutney took some time to make, an contained one Bhut Jolokia Chilli. I was only meant to leave the Limes in the Salt for two days. However as I ended up getting busy due to it being December, I ended up leaving them for around two weeks. At first I thought it was ruined as the Limes where very salty, but I continued on. As I started cooking it, the smell was amazing. Slowly the flavour improved. Once it was cooked there was this amazing flavour of fruity spicy sweetness followed by a slight bitterness from the limes. The Chutney was not over salted at all.

When making Chutneys I use 227g Jam Jars from Lakeland. As I much prefer to do them in smaller batches, as Chutneys are only occasionally eaten in small amounts at home. However they do make nice gifts to friends and family. Don’t forget to ask for you’re jar back though! The annoying thing is the waiting. Once they are bottled up you need to wait at-least a month for it to mature in flavour. That’s the hardest part!

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