Chutney

[greyhound]

Anyone ever tried making chutney with unripe plums?

As mentioned over on the Edible Plants board, the wind has ripped a branch off one of my plum trees.  Lots of plums on it, but nowhere near ripe.  Since it works with tomatoes, might it be worth a go? ???

[greyhound]

[Grant]

This is from the BBC, it may work.

Ingredients
450g/1lb red plums, halved and stoned
180g/6oz caster sugar
120ml/4fl oz cider vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
Method
1. Put all the ingredients into a pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20-30 minutes until the plums are tender and the liquid is syrupy. Cool and keep in the fridge.
2. Serve with cheeses or ham.

[greyhound]

That's an "eat straight away" chutney, isn't it?   :P

Good idea, I'll try that,  I've got all those ingredients.  I usually use the Delia recipe (excellent!) but that takes time to mature.  This will be better for a test run.

[calendula]

why not try to ripen the plums a bit in a paper bag - the same way as tomatoes  :-\

[greyhound]

Thanks, will try that too.  :)

[greyhound]

I didn't use them in the end; they weren't really far enough along and just shrivelled up quite quickly.

I have just tried that "instant chutney" recipe with the last of the mirabelles, though.  It's horribly sweet and I wouldn't recommend it.