Marrow & Fresh Ginger Chutney Recipe

Marrow and Fresh Ginger Chutney

9lb Marrow peeled and deseeded

salt

1 and 1/2 lb onions

1 and 1/2lb cooking apples

1 and 1/2lb sultanas

1 and 1/2 oz fresh root ginger

6 tsp pickling spices

12oz golden Demerara sugar

3 pints cider vinegar

This made 19lb chutney, bottled. It looked great and tasted delicious. The orginal recipe we were given was for a third of these quanities so if you have less marrows, use proportionally fewer ingredients. Wine vinegar can be used too.

Method

Put the marrow into a colander and liberally sprinkle with salt. Leave over a pan for a few hours to draw the water off

Put the marrow and all other ingredients except the sugar and the vinegar into a large pan; a preserving pan is ideal. You could put the ginger and spices into a muslin bag and remove that before bottling but we like them in the chutney.

Add a third of the vinegar and bring slowly to the boil. Boil gently until the mixture is thick, gradually adding more vinegar as yuo go.. Stir frequently to stop the chutney sticking. Add the sugar stirring continually until the sugar has dissolved. It may take a couple of hours to or more to reach the right consistency, but don't despair, it will thicken.

Once you have the correct consistency, remove the pan from the ehat and ladle the chutney inot clean jars. We use honey jars. Put on the lids and leave to cool before labeling.

Bees make Honey, we make chutney

Our new honey bee colony seem to be thriving. I see the bees out and about wherever I go in the garden or the orchard. At the moment they are goiong crazy for the flowers on the sedum. The picture opposite shows why we got them though, to help pollinate the apple blossom in the orchard in May. They came free as part of an iniative by South Gloucestershire beekeepers who are offering a free hive, colony and mentoring, to help establish new colonies in new locations. Honey bees have been badly hit by collapsing colony syndrome, verroa mite and wet weather, plus the cocktail of nasty chemicals that are used these days. If ours stay in on or home ground they will be Ok, or so I keep telling them.... Meanwhile we are making Marrow Chutney, having at last finished batch after batch of damson chutney, jam and cheese. Yes there is such a thing as Damson Cheese, honestly

These are the Worcester pearmain apples, which some say have a noticeable strawberry flavour

They are generally small, so a lot have to be picked to fill a tub, but they do smell delicious and taste fantastic just off the tree, or in juice. They don't keep well generally, which is one of the reasons you don't see them much in supermarkets these days, and for that reason we try and clear the trees and juice them quickly. The wasps love these, for the sugar i suppose and its amusing to see them drunk on the juice stumbling about. Not yet beens tung this year, but theres still plenty of time

The first blog

Its a beautiful day, there is a heavy dew in the orchard gradually going as the sun climbs higher. We have already begun picking Worcester Pearmain apples, one of the earliest varities and a very sweet one, which all kids seem to like. One tank full has been bottled and the results are on the kitchen table ready to go. In fact some have gone already to the men utting down a massive old black Poplar, just across the lane. They cam back for some more yesterday and said that they had nver tasted apple juice like it. Praise indeed!