Apple, Pear & Plum Chutney
We’re quite lucky to have a lovely pear tree in our garden. I bought it some years ago now in Lidl for what was next to nothing but stupidly never kept the card with the variety on it {so typical of me!}. After some research I’m convinced now that it’s a Doyenne du Comice but I could be wrong. The first couple of years, we didn’t get much fruit but following some serious pruning over the last few years, the tree has given us more pears than we know what to do with. I’ve been busy trying to use them up before they turn rotten. So, it’s been pear marmalade, poached pears with caramel and now pear chutney. To be precise, Apple, Pear and Plum Chutney!
This was quite a trial recipe having found nothing in any of my books. One that I did like was an Apple, Pear and Apricot chutney on BBC Good Food and this was the inspiration for my recipe below. I have to say, I’m so delighted with the results that I can’t see the chutney lasting long. The smell of the chutney cooking immediately reminded us of Christmas so it’s one that’s actually a pleasure to make from an olfactory point of view! If you’d like to give it a try, here’s how I made mine:
Apple, Pear & Plum Chutney
Makes 4x450ml jars {plus a little over to enjoy now!}
Ingredients
450g pears, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
450g plums, stoned and chopped into small pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 lemons, juice and zest
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
500ml white wine vinegar
225g raisins and sultanas
225g dark muscovado sugar
224g soft brown sugar
1 tbsp salt
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a maslin pan or heavy bottomed pan {taking care not to let the mixture burn to the bottom!}.
Bring the mixture to boiling point then simmer for at least 30 minutes until the mixture is thickened and the fruit soft – do not let the mixture get dry as it won’t keep for you.
Once thickened, pack it into sterilised jars and seal.
Leave for one month {if you can!} for the flavours to mature.
Enjoy!
Xx Paula
7 comments on “Apple, Pear & Plum Chutney”
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Salt, Pepper and a Dollop of Cream 
Yum!! Just love!! 🙂
Thanks Amy! I’ve the left overs in a mug – who needs cheese, just give me a spoon and I’m away! And the kick at the back of your throat is just yum! If you had a sore throat, this would cure it!! Xx Paula
I guess, I must have done something wrong, because it was overpowering in vinegar taste, like way too much. To fix it, I had to double it & add more sugar & some of the spices, to make it palatable. But, now that I’ve done that, it’s quite tasty. I don’t want to run into the same problem, next time & I do want to make it again. Fiona L.
Thanks for your feedback Fiona. I always find chutney to be vinegary on making but as it matures it mellows. I wonder if the variety of pears had anything to do with it. Our pears are quite sweet to start with so maybe that’s the difference? When you talk of doubling, do you mean the fruit content? Do let me know! X P
I made this today and used cranrasins as I didn’t have raisins, I reduced the amount of vinegar and sugar ,it still has a kick and is mighty tasty.We have asian pears and Italian plums which aren’t as sweet but worked well.
I now need to find 100 more recipes to use up the 200 lbs of pears and plums off my 2 trees…lol.
Your harvest sounds amazing! 200lbs!! We have only two pears this year after given the tree a major prune last year. But that suits me as we’re doing a bit of a renovation to the house this autumn. I’ve never seen an Asian pear! Delighted the recipe worked well for you. Xx
Love this recipe thank you! I had some trays of Williams Pears, Granny Smith Apples and sugar plums given to me from the Wimmera region in Victoria, Australia, and it made nearly 10kgs of deliciousness. My work colleagues are super happy. ❤