Marrow Chutney

A couple of weeks ago we were given several marrows so we decided to make some marrow chutney. We started with this recipe from Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall which calls for 1 1/2 lbs of marrow but I had 4 1/2 lbs to use so I started to triple up all the ingredients. I had plenty of onions which I had gleaned from a harvested field nearby but I had to buy some apples and tomatoes so I ended up using a little less than the recipe called for.

As the picture shows it was a tight squeeze in the preserving pan. I kept the heat as low as I could and the lid on until eventually the vegetables started to mush down. The recipe said to bring to the boil and then simmer for an hour. With triple the ingredients it took a lot longer to reduce enough to bottle but eventually I ended up with just over 12 jars.

• Spice bag - 1 1/2 teaspoon each of cloves, black peppercorns and coriander seeds
• 4 1/2 lbs courgettes and marrow or pumpkin, peeled and diced into 1cm pieces
• 4 lbs over-ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped 
• 4 lbs bruised or shrivelled apples  
• 1 1/2 lbs onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1l white wine or cider vinegar
• 600ml water
• 3 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 lbs dried fruits/raisins
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 lbs light brown sugar

The part jar tasted very good. The rest has gone into the pantry to mature for three months as per the recipe instructions.