While we love eating plums fresh, nothing beats an old fashioned plum crumble, or a pudding, jam or chutney to savor in the cold months. No one eats jam in this household as it is too sweet so chutney is my favorite way to save the harvest. We love a good chutney. It is basically the savory, sweet and sour version of jam and the EASIEST thing you can make at home. A chutney goes really well as a spread for crackers or as a side with rice dishes or parathas. It can also be used for PBJ sandwiches and over cold meat or cheese.
Plums come in different colors, shapes and sizes. Besides being delicious, plums are a low calorie fruit with low glycemic index. So if you are watching your sugar intake, this is the recipe for you, If you are not watching sugar, this is still a recipe for you. The obvious thing that I love about this recipe is that it is sweetened with honey instead of white sugar. You can even sweeten this with dates or maple syrup (tried). Remember, though, that the choice of sweetener will affect the end result.
I have used golden gage plums but any type of plum variety will work for this chutney. Other stone fruits like nectarines, peaches or apricots can also be used in this recipe It’s pretty simple and easy to make with only few ingredients. If you are into canning and preserving, do your thing at the end. I have never done canning as I don’t make in large quantity. But you can easily store this plum chutney in your pantry in clean airtight jar or container for 1 month, in-fact even beyond (tried and tested).
Before you start making this chutney, you should know that you can leave the skin on or peel off. It’s your choice. Some recipes may advise leaving the peels on the fruit, I find that removing the peels results in a smoother texture.
Ingredients
- 1 kg ripe golden gage plums (can use green as well)
- 3/4 cup liquid honey or any other sweetener (base this on taste test)
- 1" fresh ginger, peeled & grated
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp. pure white vinegar
- 1/4 tsp scant all spice
Instructions
- Wash the plums. With a paring knife put a X mark on the bottom. Put them in a bowl,
- Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Once it boils, pour the water over the plums. Let them sit for 30 sec or a minute or until the skins wrinkle and pull away from the fruit.
- Then plunge them into cold water for 1 minute.
- Drain the fruit and peel off the skin.
- Roughly chop the flesh and take the pit out.
- Place plum flesh, ginger, salt, red pepper flakes, honey (or any other sweetener) and vinegar in a non-reactive pan.
- Cook on high heat for 20-30 minutes.
- When it starts to thicken lower the heat, simmer until the chutney thickens.
- Stir in all spice. Leave to cool.
- This chutney will keep up to a month or two in pantry in an air tight container.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
Simple and delicious!
Monica
So smart of you to substitute jam with your homemade chutney! I know you have so many great uses for it and how great to bring your own chutney to the table to enjoy!
Summer
Looks really nice ♥
summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
Rahul @samosastreet.com
Yum, that looks delicious
Ami@NaiveCookCooks
This looks super yum!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
What a great use for plums! I always have a ton on my tree and look for new ways to use them up!
Kim
Will this keep longer if I did a water bath can method to seal them?
Balvinder
Water bath method will definitely keep longer.
smitha
chutney with plums. i would love trying it soon.
Adina
My friend has a plum tree which is just loaded at the moment. I actually told her I am done with plums this year, there is just so much jam and cake one can make, but seeing this chutney makes me reconsider. I really think I will give it a try!