This post has been waiting since DECEMBER. Yeah. It's been 2 full months since I canned anything. 'Tis not the season for anything around here. But fresh cranberries were in grocery stores in December, and I made something with them. And without further ado, here's what I made.
You'll need:
36 ounces (3 x 340 g bags) fresh cranberries
4 cups chopped white or yellow onion (the onion I used was massive)
3 cups (or less) raisins (I might omit these the next time, though I guess then it wouldn't be a chutney...)
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 cups white sugar
6 fresh serrano or jalapeno peppers, stems and seeds removed, finely minced (I used four of the giant jalapenos from my garden that I froze this fall, and they worked great)
3 cups white wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups orange juice
Zest of an orange
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
4 cinnamon sticks
12ish 1/2 pint (1 cup/250 ml) mason jars [I didn't have enough matching jars so I used what I had on hand: 8 1/2 pint jars; 2 pint jars; 1 1/4 pint (125 ml) jar]
Enough snap lids and rings
So pretty, aren't they?
Directions for cooking and canning:
Wash your jars in hot soap water and rinse well.
Combine all of your ingredients in a large pot.
Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
Once it comes to a boil, drop the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until most of the cranberries have popped and the rest are quite tender.
This is where I usually get a small pot out to heat water for the snap lids. This year, Santa brought me a nifty little gadget to lower the snap lids into the canner and use that water. Handy dandy! If you have one of those, heat water to the almost boil in the canner and place your snap lids in there to soften.
Scoop chutney into jars leaving a centimetre or so headspace.
Bubble each jar with a skewer or chopstick to release any trapped air. Wipe each rim thoroughly with a clean damp paper towel. (This recipe suggests using a paper towel dampened with vinegar, and it works like a charm to remove the stickiness.) Place a heated snap lid down and screw the ring on finger tip tight.
Put the filled jars into your water bath canner. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the top of your jars. Don't start your timer until the water is boiling. Boil for 15 minutes.
Remove jars from the canner. Repeat with the next batch if you have more jars.
Obviously it would be lovely to serve with a holiday turkey dinner. The mild heat and tartness of the chutney would compliment a typically rich festive meal quite nicely.
It's also delish on a roast beef sandwich. Enjoy!
I adapted this recipe from a fabulous canning cookbook I got this year for Christmas. If you're looking for some interesting recipes and a thoughtful approach to canning, check out Not Your Mama’s Canning Book by Rebecca Lindamood.
