Spiced Pear and Cider Christmas Chutney

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

Fig and balsamic chutney

Cranberry sauce

Christmas gingerbread

Christmas cake muffins

Sugared pecans

Baileys fudge

Or for all other Christmas recipes check out my Christmas section here.

I used the following products to make my jars of chutney (click the image to check availability on amazon):

110ml jarsBrown tags with string

Metal jam funnel

Please note that the above are affiliate links, which means if you do click these links and then go on to purchase the products, I will receive a small percentage – this will not affect the amount you pay. If you do click and buy – Thank you for helping in the continuation of this blog, it really means a lot!! I will only ever link to and promote products that I have tried and tested myself.

Spiced Pear and Cider Christmas Chutney

Brown sugar and ginger spiced pears, poached in cider and reduced to a warningly 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.

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Prep Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Author @ ProperFoodie: Debbie

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp 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
• juice half a lemon
• 250 g demerara brown sugar
• 1 tsp 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.

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