Fruit and Chile Chutney

This recipe comes from a great little book called "Too Many Chiles!" by Dave DeWitt, Nancy Gerlach and Jeff Gerlach. I think it tastes wonderful and I had such faith in the recipe that I made double the quantity, first time! The book lists this as "Fiery Fruit Chutney", but I've changed the name as my chutney has a 'warm' rather than 'hot' flavour. This may be due to the type of chiles I used, so bear this in mind! This is a useful recipe because the ingredients are easily available all year round. Aside from the name and doubling the ingredients, the only other changes I have made is to specify the make of mustard powder and omit the first step of the recipe, which is to steep the dried fruit in hot water. This really isn't necessary if you use good quality fruit, and you must lose some of the goodness in the process. Feel free to reinstate this though, if you wish.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Yields: 4 pints

Ingredients

• 2  cups  dried chopped pitted prunes
• 3  cups cider vinegar
• 2  tablespoons lime juice
• 2  cups brown sugar
• 2  teaspoons  colemans mustard powder
• 2  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2  cups  ready washed dried seedless raisins
• 12  small chilies, stems and seeds removed,chopped (such as cayennes or serranos - or your favourite home grown ones, as I used)
• 4  cups  chopped tart apples
• 2  cups  chopped onions
• 2  cups  peeled chopped tomatoes

Directions

1. Mix the vinegar, lime juice, brown sugar, mustard powder, cinnamon, salt and cumin in a large lidded pan and bring to the boil.
2. Add the prunes, raisins, chiles, apples, onions and tomatoes; bring the mixture back to the boil then cover.
3. Keep the mixture simmering briskly, stir frequently, for about 20 minutes or until the mixture has reached the right consistency (you can check for this by pushing a large spoon over the base of the pan; the spoon will briefly leave a track showing the bottom of the pan).
4. Pour into clean, sterilised jars and seal.
5. The chutney will taste better for keeping for 2 months before using.