What's that smell?

I decided to use up more plums today and attempted pear & plum chutney. Now, as a reasonably competent jam/jelly maker, I thought chutney would be simple. What a faff! Meticulously cutting up pounds of pears, plums and onions (even though I said I wouldn't do onions again)! into equal sized pieces, then simmering away for a few hours. A whole jam pan full of what looked like cat sick, the house stinking of vinegar and me, with the patience of a hungry dog, stirring away for an eternity.

"This chutney should be cooked in around 2.5 - 3 hours" Ermmmm, no! 4 hours later it finally resembled a brown chutneyish mush and I put it into jars. How many jars did I get from a mountain of fruit? 8. And a bit!! We aren't talking large jars either. The small 1/2 pound size. I will be selling it at the fair for around £7 a jar. Hee hee.

Pretty uninspiring brown stuff in a jar, but a fabric topper will transform it! Only 8 weeks until it is ready. It does smell good though.


Whilst watching the chutney with hawk eyes for fear of burning, I cut out some toppers for the onion jam I made the other day.
Only a few at a time, in between stirring.


The weather has been odd today. Kind of will it/won't it, rain thing going on. It didn't rain, well it hasn't so far. Nipped out quickly to get some vinegar for the aforementioned chutney and returned to the Citylink man delivering my paper bags for the fair. 100 should do it! He says anxiously.

I picked our first tomatoes yesterday. Small and juicy with a few hundred still to ripen. Have a recipe for green tomato chutney that I was planning on making, but maybe not now.......



His Lordship will be home soon, so off to start dinner, once I have removed a broody bantam from her nest.

C x x x