Recipe: Apple and Sage Chutney

I realised that this food blog has started to become a bit of a preserving/jamming blog these days! It's always the way though, I would say that August through to November is the time when people get all their jam jars out and have a go at turning their homegrown/home gathered produce into things that will keep for the rest of the year. The good news is that certainly for the next month, I will be getting a nice steady stream of scrumptious apples, courtesy of my friend Ralph who has a shared garden full of fruit trees. It's a regular oasis, ralph's garden, with damsons, plums, pears, apples and blackberries- I must admit i'm a little bit jealous! Anyway, the more apples he gives me, the more jars of apple chutneys/preserves he'll be getting back- I think thats a fair deal! With most, if not all, apple based chutneys, you should avoid heavy stirring, because it's nice to try and keep chunks of apple in the chutney, rather than it all mushing down.

Apple and Sage Chutney (makes 2kg)

1.8kg cooking apples (unpeeled/uncored weight), peeled and diced
2 large white onions, finely diced
20g fresh sage, finely chopped
120g sultanas
550g sugar
170ml red wine vinegar
230ml cider vinegar
50ml Worchester sauce

1. Put all the ingredients into a large pan, covered, and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Uncover (by this time the mixture should be boiling), and cook on a medium heat for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, but gently (to try and stop the apple pieces from “mushing up” too much).
3. Allow to settle for 10 minutes, pot, and seal!