The Verdict

I finally got round to trying some of my preserves over Christmas and have to say I was extremely pleased with the results...

... tomato & pepper relish really did taste as good as something you could buy in the shops - I can't wait to try it on a burger.

... pickled green tomatoes were quite sweet, I was expecting them to taste more like pickles. They are lovely with both cheese and ham.

... pumpkin chutney was a total delight, I will definitely be making more of that next year.

... pickled cucumbers, once again are just as good as the ones you can buy. I will have to put more effort into growing onions for pickling next year.

The only thing left to try is cucumber and apple chutney, hopefully I will enjoy that just as much as the others.

Pumpkin Chutney

So, what do you do when a pumpkin peaks far too early?.... turn it into chutney of course.

As per usual, I had to amend the recipe to suit the quantities of my produce so based on the size of the pumpkin this is what I used:

1 1/2 lbs pumpkin
1/2 lb ripe tomatoes (I have plenty of those!)
1/2 lb onions (I used a red onion and some shallots)
2 cloves garlic (small ones)
1/2 pint malt vinegar
2 oz sultanas
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbsp salt
3/4 lb soft brown sugar (I used dark)

This is what I did:

Chopped up the pumpkin, tomatoes and onion / shallots, crushed the garlic and placed in a pan with the sultanas and half of the vinegar.

Put on a low heat and simmered until the pumpkin was soft... the recipe said this takes about 30 minutes but mine took a bit longer.

Added the salt and spices and simmered some more... the recipe said for 15 minutes, but the pan was getting a bit dry so I simmered for less than that.

Stirred in the sugar and the remaining vinegar, continued cooking until it thickened, stirring occasionally.

Left it to cool a little bit then decanted into warm sterilised jars and sealed.

And the taste? Sweeter than other chutneys I have made so far, but very tasty.