Peach or Nectarine Chutney

Peach or Nectarine Chutney
Peach or Nectarine Chutney
When you're making preserves, fully 50 percent of your success is in the shopping—good fruit makes good jam. Technique matters also, and a sound recipe makes a difference. But the crucial remaining factor is organization. Especially when dealing with a large quantity of perishable fruits or vegetables, you have to think through your strategy and plot out your work. If you can't get everything put up immediately, you have to take into account how the produce will ripen—and soon fade—as it waits for you. My strategy for how to use a bushel of peaches would look something like this: First day/underripe fruit: Pectin levels peak just before ripening, so I'd start with peach jelly. If you don't want to make jelly, give the peaches another day to ripen. First day/just-ripe fruit: Peaches that are fragrant and slightly yielding but still firm enough to handle are ideal for canning in syrup, as either halves or slices in syrup. Second day/fully ripe fruit: As the peaches become tender and fragrant, make jam. Third day/dead-ripe fruit: By now, the peaches will likely have a few brown spots that will need to be cut away, so I'd work up a batch of chutney, which requires long, slow cooking that breaks down the fruit anyway. Fourth day/tired fruit: Whatever peaches haven't been used by now will likely look a little sad, but even really soft, spotty ones can be trimmed for a batch of spiced peach butter. Southern peach chutney evolved from an Indian relish called chatni that British colonials brought home during the days when the sun never set on the Empire. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, chatni is made fresh before a meal by grinding spices and adding them to a paste of tamarind, garlic, and limes or coconut. Pieces of fruit or vegetable may be incorporated, but the chief flavor characteristic is sour. The British turned that into a fruit preserve, explains the Oxford Companion: British chutneys are usually spiced, sweet, fruit pickles, having something of the consistency of jam. Highest esteem is accorded to mango chutney… . Chutney later spread across the Atlantic to the West Indies and the American South, where the esteemed mango was replaced by the honorable peach.
  • Preparing Time: -
  • Total Time: -
  • Served Person: Yields 4 pints
Condiment/Spread Nectarine Peach Edible Gift Jalapeño
  • 3/4 cup raisins
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup chopped vidalia onion
  • 5 pounds yellow peaches or nectarines, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 3 cups organic or turbinado sugar
  • 2 cups apple-cider vinegar
  • 1 sweet banana pepper or 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
  • 2 or 3 fresh green jalapeã±os, diced, or adjust to taste
  • 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated turmeric, or 1/2 teaspoon ground
  • 4 tablespoons mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala (a ground spice mixture containing pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, cumin, and star anise)
  • 2 teaspoons darjeeling tea (or 4 tea bags)
  • Carbohydrate 95 g(32%)
  • Fat 2 g(3%)
  • Fiber 5 g(19%)
  • Protein 4 g(7%)
  • Saturated Fat 0 g(1%)
  • Sodium 8 mg(0%)
  • Calories 401

Preparation 1. Combine all the ingredients in a deep pot, and bring to a boil. Moderate the heat, and reduce for as long as an hour, until all the excess liquid boils away and what remains is thick and jamlike in texture. Be sure to taste the chutney at several points, and adjust the seasonings to your preference. Chutney should be deeply flavored and complex, with at least a bit of spicy heat. If you like the bright taste of green chilies, add more minced jalapeños during the last 10 minutes of cooking. 2. Ladle the hot chutney into four prepared pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal, and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Allow to cure for a month before eating. Excerpted from Saving the Season by Kevin West. Copyright © 2013 by Kevin West. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. KEVIN WEST is from rural Blout County in eastern Tennessee. He attended Deep Springs, an experimental college in the White Mountains of California, and Sewanee: The University of the South. For thirteen years he was on staff at W magazine, with postings in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles, where he was West Coast editor and where he still lives. He runs the blog Saving the Season; writes about food, culture, and travel; and produces a retail collection of jams and marmalades. He is certified as a Master Food Preserver by the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Preparation 1. Combine all the ingredients in a deep pot, and bring to a boil. Moderate the heat, and reduce for as long as an hour, until all the excess liquid boils away and what remains is thick and jamlike in texture. Be sure to taste the chutney at several points, and adjust the seasonings to your preference. Chutney should be deeply flavored and complex, with at least a bit of spicy heat. If you like the bright taste of green chilies, add more minced jalapeños during the last 10 minutes of cooking. 2. Ladle the hot chutney into four prepared pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal, and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Allow to cure for a month before eating. Excerpted from Saving the Season by Kevin West. Copyright © 2013 by Kevin West. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. KEVIN WEST is from rural Blout County in eastern Tennessee. He attended Deep Springs, an experimental college in the White Mountains of California, and Sewanee: The University of the South. For thirteen years he was on staff at W magazine, with postings in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles, where he was West Coast editor and where he still lives. He runs the blog Saving the Season; writes about food, culture, and travel; and produces a retail collection of jams and marmalades. He is certified as a Master Food Preserver by the University of California Cooperative Extension.

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