Making Chutney (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in a chutney? ›

Chutneys are made by slow-cooking fruit or vegetables with peeled ginger, garlic, Korintje cinnamon, and chilies. Spices and vinegar are added to preserve the chutney and give it a tangy flavor.

Relish. Chutney and relish are two popular condiments, and the names are often interchanged. The confusion is understandable because chutneys can be savory, and relishes can be sweet. In general, chutneys have a chunky spreadable consistency much like a preserve and are usually made with fruit.

According to FSSR (2011), Chutneys are the product prepared from washed, clean, sound raw fruits and/or vegetables of any suitable variety, which have been peeled, sliced or chopped or shredded and comminuted followed by cooking in vinegar, sweetened with sugar or dried fruit and flavoured with spices and simmered for ...

Vinegar used in making chutney must be good quality and have at least 5% acetic acid content. Any good brand white, malt, wine or cider vinegar should possess the correct qualities. Brown sugar is used for darker coloured chutney but where a lighter colour is required granulated sugar is recommended.

Tomato chutney is common everywhere, but Bengali tomato chutney is sweet, thanks to the addition of dates or mangoes, and used to cleanse the palate between spicy and sweet courses, while Hyderabadi tomato chutney packs more heat thanks to dried chillies, and is served as a side dish with rice or flatbread.

Relishes, on the other hand, are cooked for a shorter time, with the resultant relish chunkier and more sharply flavoured than a chutney. Some people argue that a chutney will always contain mainly fruit or a mixture of fruits, and relishes are generally made of vegetables, and usually one variety.

Chutney is a condiment or spread made from chopped fruit cooked with vinegar, spices and sometimes sugar, that can be served fresh or preserved. It's often associated with Indian cuisine.

The sugar and vinegar are essential, too, for that quintessential sharp-sweet flavour and to preserve the chutney. If the jars have been sterilised correctly (watch our video for a failsafe method), the chutney will keep in a cool dark space for more than a year.

Our answer. When you make chutney its consistency is determined by the evaporation of liquid as the chutney cooks. So if possible you should use a wide pan as this has a larger surface area which means that liquid will evaporate more quickly and should help to prevent the fruit in the chutney from becoming too soft.

How do I know when my chutney is ready? ›

As it thickens, stir more frequently and watch that the sugar does not begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. The chutney is done when you can scrape a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and the chutney does not flow back into the gap.

It's quite alright to reuse jam jars and they don't have to be Kilner jars either. It's not necessary to put a greaseproof or a waxed disc in the top of the jar - just fill it nearly to the top with the aim of having the smallest air gap. This is to prevent mould spores in the air spoiling your chutney.

Once made, chutney can be eaten immediately but the flavours improve and develop if it is left to mature for a couple of weeks or even months. Store your unopened jars in a dry and dark cupboard for best results. Once opened, keep your chutney in the fridge and eat within four weeks.

Both a jam and a chutney will contain sugar, although a jam would be much sweeter, with the chutney having a more acidic, tangy flavour from the addition of vinegar. To preserve a chutney a combination of vinegar and sugar are used, whilst in a jam it is the sugar alone which acts as the preserving agent.

The texture of this condiment is what primarily distinguishes it from a sauce. Because it is made from slow-cooking fruits and vegetables, chutney often has a chunky yet spreadable consistency and is created similarly to jam. Sauce, on the other hand, is typically much thinner.

Mother Recipe All in One Chutney is made from fresh coriander, mint leaves, onion, green chilli and condiments. Makes an excellent dip and an accompaniment with stuffed parathas or any meal anywhere. Add flavour to any dish, any snack, any time. Comes in a 250 g pack.

: a thick sauce of Indian origin that contains fruits, vinegar, sugar, and spices and is used as a condiment.