Brown sugar and ginger spiced pears, poached in cider and reduced to a warmingly festive Christmas chutney. The wonderful smell of this enticing recipe alone, is a good enough reason to get a pot of this chutney simmering on your stove.
Christmas
December is here!!! But don't panic, don't stress guys!! It might be a few short weeks until Christmas, but theres still plenty of time to get in some festive bakes and to make up some edible gifts!! And before you know it, we'll be all wrapped up and ready to go.
Edible Christmas gifts
I do love Christmas, but the sorting of gifts can be a bit of a worry and a drain - I like to be prepared and organised. Edible gifts don't always give you this option. Make them too far in advance and they'll have gone off by Christmas Day, make them a couple of days before Christmas and you'll get yourself into such a tizz that you'll wished you'd not bothered.
Homemade Christmas Chutney
Enter homemade jarred produce!! Ahh chutney - that wonderful addition to your cheese and biscuits that is a definite must, especially at Christmas. Making and gifting chutney at Christmas is an absolute joy, and of course theres aways plenty to fill up my own cupboards with as well.
My usual go to Christmas chutney is a rich, fruity fig and balsamic concoction. And I do still adore this chutney. However, this year I decided to go for something with a little more festive spice. Brown sugar, ginger and cider make a fabulous christmassy combination. Add in some pears, poached in all that wonder festive goodness until soft and mushy, and you have a chutney that is an absolute joy to behold. Or to slap on your cheese and biscuits.
Jar up your Christmas Chutney
Prepared and stored in the right way, these little jars of chutney will last for a good 6 months in the cupboard. I always like to get my chutney gifts made up and out of the way by early December - one more thing ticked off the list.
Easy, quick, can be prepared in advance, super festive and tastes amazing - And so - this has to be the perfect Christmas gift!
Looking for other great gift ideas? Have a look at my
- Christmas gifts for foodies
- Fig and balsamic chutney
- Cranberry sauce
- Christmas gingerbread
- Christmas cake muffins
- Sugared pecans
- Baileys fudge
What equipment do I need?
- Chopping board and knife
- Large pan
- Jam Funnel
- Small glass preserving jars (110ml) OR
- Large glass preserving jars (225ml)
- Labels(optional)
Other Christmas recipe ideas
- Christmas soup: celeriac and potato
- Honey glazed prawns starter
- How to Roast Chestnuts
- Fig and apple chutney
- Frangipane mince pies
- Baileys Irish cream with coffee
- Easy Christmas cake recipe
- Christmas cake muffins
Or for all other Christmas recipes check out my Christmas section here.
Spiced Pear and Cider Christmas Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 300 g shallots finely chopped
- 3 large pears Comice (650g)
- 2 red Gala apples 180g
- 2 cm piece fresh ginger
- 350 ml apple cider
- 75 ml white wine vinegar
- 0.5 juice of a lemon
- 250 g demerara brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
Instructions
- In a large pan gently heat the oil, then add the chopped shallots and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Whilst the shallots are cooking remove the skin from the pears and chop into small half cm cubes. Chop the apples into similar size cubes.
- Remove the skin from the ginger and finely chop.
- Add the chopped pears, apples and ginger to the pan and mix well. Continue to cook for a further minute before adding the cider, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, mixed spice, star anise and cinnamon stick.
- Stir well and then bring to the boil. Turn down to bring to a simmer.
- Leave the pan to simmer for 30-45 minutes, check and stir occasionally.
- After 30 minutes or so, the chutney should have started to thicken. Don't leave for too long as the chutney will thicken further as it cools and become too dry.
- To test the consistency, spoon some of your chutney onto a small plate a refrigerate for 5 minutes. If you are happy with the thickness of your cooled chutney, remove the pan from the heat. If not continue to simmer if too thin or add more cider if too thick.
To prepare your chutney for jars:
- To sterilise my jars I usually wash them thoroughly and then place them on a baking tray in the oven for 5 minutes at 150 degrees C.
- I use a clean metal funnel to transfer the chutney into the jars and then screw the lids on tightly. Make sure your chutney is still hot when you place it in the jars. As the chutney cools, a tighter seal will form between the jar and its lid.
PIN FOR LATER
Leigh
Can you please tell me approximately how many jars the recipe fills?
Many thanks!
Debbie
Hi Leigh! Thanks so much for your comment. I usually use the 110ml jars for storing my chutneys and this recipe usually fills around 10 of these. So if you are using bigger jars I imagine it would fill around 5. Hope this helps and that you enjoy the recipe!! Debbie x
Gloria
What is mixed spice
Jean
Ditto that question, whatbis mixed spice?
Debbie
Hi Jean and Gloria, mixed spice is a blend of Cinnamon, Coriander Seed, Nutmeg, Clove, Pimento, Ginger. its a ready mixed spice available in the UK:
If you aren't in the UK I would just replace this with a mixture of ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Hope this helps. Thanks, Debbie
Elaine
Can this be water bath processed?
Debbie Jones
Hi Elaine! Thanks for your comment. Yes this can be water bath processed if you prefer.
You can always check if jars are sealed properly by pressing the lid, - it wont depress further if sealed correctly.
Sealing can just be whilst the chutney is still hot and jars should be sealed immediately. As the chutney cools a vacuum will form, pulling the lid in nice and tight.
You can then check the lid - If it does depress and a seal hasn’t formed you will need to use a water bath to ensure proper processing. But you can just skip straight to the water bath if you prefer.
Hope this helps! Thanks,
Debbie x
Kat (The Baking Explorer)
This chutney sounds mouth wateringly good! And your photos are just beautiful!
Debbie
Aw thanks so much Kat - I was going for a festive, glowing look 🙂
Corina
All the ingredients in this sound delicious! I'm not normally a big fan of chutney but I think if I had a go at making some myself I'd really like it. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Debbie
Thanks Corina - I'm a massive fan of chutney so absolutely love making my own. Its so simple as well 🙂 I must get around to doing some jams at some point as well 🙂
Monika
This is a great gift idea and a delicious sauce, pinned onto my special Christmas board:)
Debbie
Thanks so much Monika - and thanks for pinning. Yes cant wait to give mine out this year and see what people think 🙂