Spicy Plum and Apple Chutney

Apple season is upon us and boy do I have a treat for you! My mum made this chutney a few years ago because we had apples coming out of our ears, sadly one of our apple trees died this summer, moment of silence please. I know that sounds odd, it was a combination of a great wind storm, it being covered in ivy, being planted next to a brick wall, although we think the brick wall was built after the tree was planted and the roots only having room to grow on one side of the wall. These apples were so addictive, I don't know what type they were and we mostly used them for cooking but apple crumble tasted 10 times better with those apples, I even ate a whole crumble in one sitting because they were so delicious.

I'm not sure where this recipe came from so I can't give credit, it probably came out of some old cook book or magazine. I used the apples off our other less appetising tree, no offense to the tree or the apples they just don't do it for me as much and sadly the plums were bought, but they were British. I did see some plum trees on the side of the road but we didn't have time to get out and pick them. When my mum made this I'm not sure if she doubled or tripled the recipe but it felt like we had jars of chutney everywhere, not that I'm complaining. It's good for BBQ's especially with sausages but one of my favourite ways to eat this is wensleydale and chutney sandwiches, I'm already mentally drooling about the idea of this sandwich and I still have to wait a few weeks till I can eat it.

1/2 bulb of garlic
small thumb size piece of ginger
1 large onion
1lb 2oz of apples
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
250ml/1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1lb 2oz of plums
225g/1 cup golden caster sugar

Makes 3 small jars

Wash and sterilize jars at 150C/300F/Gas mark 2 for 30 minutes
Peel and cut garlic into slithers, thinly shred ginger and chop the onion.
Place the garlic, ginger and onion in the saucepan with the chopped apples, spices, vinegar and salt.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stone and chop the plums, add to the saucepan with the sugar and cook for another 40 minutes stirring regularly.
Spoon into sterilized jars while still hot, cover with plastic and fabric and tie.
Store for at least 1 month until use.