It's Chutney and Jam time again!

It has been very busy in my kitchen this week.  First, after the quick picking of all the green tomatoes I whipped up some chutney using my current favourite chutney receipe - well the one I used last year!  People may laugh at my receipe book but I did buy the Jams, Pickles and Chutneys: Best Kept Secrets of the Women's Institute book.  Ok, I'm not quite ready for the W.I. yet but I figured that if anyone knows about making Jams and Chutneys then the W.I. will do; and I have to say I really like this book and have made a number of their recipes.  The chutney was made using Aunt Mary's Green Tomato Chutney and it is really easy to make and tasty too.  The only downside for me is that the glut meant I had to double the recipe so I ended up chopping 6lb of tomatoes, 3lb of apples and the killer for me was chopping 3lb of onions - tears were rolling down my face in rivers that night.  Also I didn't really give it much thought when I set out to double the receipe that a) I would have a big enough bowl to put the ingredients in overnight (I didn't and so had to carefully mound it all up into a big pile and cover with clingfilm!) and b) whether it would all fit in my perserving pan once I'd added all the other ingredients.  Well it was touch and go - I always like to add a bit of excitement into my cooking and now the smell of vinegar has finally left my house and I've got 14 jars of chutney to keep me going . . .!

 

Well the annual brambling and jam making took place last weekend.  DH had to make a quick trip to the hardware store to buy some more jars, after all that chutney my reserves of jars that I save over the year were running low.  I have to say that this year I have made some lovely Blackberry and Apple Jam - my best so far I think.  I'm not sure what I did differently, if anything but you can really taste the fruit this year.  The jam making has been a total family affair, DH and the little ones picked the blackberries, I made the jam and Flopsy Bunny came up trumps with the labels - I just love the decorations don't you?!