[cathy81walking]

Hi all

I'm following Val's recipe from the book (which I LOVE  ) and am at the point when the mix is soft and I need to add the spices and other half of vinegar.

My question is - the mix is everso 'runny' - does it really reduce down that much?! :blink:

How long does it take - I'm worried that I've gone totally wrong somewhere!

I know you are all experts - any advice you can give this chutney virgin would be much appreciated!
 

[titch]

i am sure someone else will be along with proper instructions soon - i too am a chutney newbie, but simmer mine till its  what i think the consistancy should be like .........i am sorry thats probably no help at all

[cathy81walking]

Hi Titch

Thanks for that - any and all advice welcome!

Mine is bubbling away and does seem to have thickened up a little bit - I was having a minor panic as I couldn't bear the thought of having to throw it away after peeling all those tomatoes... (note to self - grow bigger tomatoes next year - 3lb of small ones is blinkin fiddly!!! )

[mumofstig]

Just turn the heat and keep stirring.............I'm afraid you do have to watch it all the time if you do this though.
Will thicken up quickly this way, but you really must keep stirring and stirring, and........

[Yorkie]

Mine always takes hours to simmer down.  In fact, with the courgette chutney there was so much liquid that I gave up after a long time, went to bed (having switched the heat off) and tried again the next day having removed some of the liquid.

[Ice]

Mine takes hours too and I do a test for set just like jam.  I'm going to make the same ripe tomato chutney tomorrow with cherry toms, but I'll be darned if I will peel them. 

[cathy81walking]

Phew - you are all very reassuring

Mine simmered for a good couple of hours (wondering if the 'vinegary' smell will ever leave the house  ) and finally resembled something that I could identify with!

Have potted it up and will leave it alone for a few months (although one jar might make it down to a local pub that's got a chutney competition going at the end of Oct - do I dare?! ) and see what happens!

Some of mine were cherry toms - but not all - think I'd have drawn the line there 

Thanks again everyone!!  Today's panic has subsided for this session of cooking - blackberry picking tomorrow, so see you all same time tomorrow for another session?!

[Yorkie]

We'll be here!

Might be worth tasting the chutney before you take it to the competition, simply because it can take 3 months to mature (not because I doubt your ability  )

[noshed]

A spot of cornflour sometimes helps

[flowerpower]

I work on the prinicple that you should be able to "draw" a line across the bottom of the pan with a spatula and see the bottom of the pan as you go. ie that the liquid doesn't flow back into the space.
Am I making sense??!!

I have decanted the liquid into a frying pan in desperation and put it over a high heat to evaporate the stuff quickly. before now.

[jolly jen]

i have made  chutney for the 1st time this year,,
got my repice off river cottage web page,,
took out of it which i didnt like the sound of and changed the volume as i was only making 3 jars.
use what you have a glut of,you cant go wrong

[Wombat18]

I tried the River Cottage glutney recipe too, it was easy to follow and seems to have turned out okay, although the original recipe makes an enormous amount.  I ran out of time after cutting up all the veg and had to leave the raw ingredients soaking in the saucepan for a day, but this just seems to have softened everything up nicely.  I did need to simmer it for a good three hours plus before the liquid thickened up though.

[jolly jen]

mine too two hours,,perhaps you used to much water? maybe it was were you soaked them  for a while??

[sclarke624]

Or very juicy toms.  Lets face it some have more juice than others.  Mine took 6 hours.

[matilda duck]

Oh eck!
Was going to make my tom chutney today, but I don't think I have 6 hours to spare