A race against time

Now that the moving day is set, I'm rushing to put all the fruit from the backyard to use. I made a monster batch of kumquat marmalade (this time using the food processor, which made it really fast), but there was still a tree worth of oranges that I don't particularly feel like turning into jam. My solution? Chutney, as I have been enjoying chutneys on my grilled cheese sandwiches of late.

As I was searching, none of the recipes quite fit my taste. Some involved onions (ick), others raisins (double ick), and several involved ingredients that were challenging if not impossible to obtain in California, or, indeed, in this country. Nevertheless, I found a recipe that, after adaptations, worked pretty well.

Orange Chutney
Adapted from astray recipes

• 4 large oranges
• Juice of 1 orange
• 2 large cooking apples
• 2 oz candied ginger (I couldn't track down the stem ginger from the original recipe)
• 2 T chopped apricots (I didn't have any currants at the time, nor did I feel like using the standard substitute: raisins)
• 1 fresh chili, chopped
• 1 oz salt
• 3/4 c soft brown sugar
• 2/3 c honey (the original golden syrup being not available in this country outside of the South)
• White or cider vinegar

1. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the oranges and chop the peel. Cut the pith from the orange and chop the flesh, removing the seeds. Chop the ginger, apples, apricots, and chili. Juice the orange.

2. Put oranges, apples, orange juice, ginger, apricots, chili, salt and pepper into a saucepan. Cover and simmer until the oranges are tender. Add a bit more orange juice if it seems to be drying out.

3. Add the sugar, honey, and vinegar to cover the fruit. Mix well and boil gently, stirring occasionally until it thickens (it will take about an hour). Pour into sterilized jars (or put in the fridge).

I think I'm going to pick the rest of the oranges before this weekend's snowboarding, as I'm also in a race against my landlord. If the fruit lingers too long on the tree, he starts thinking I don't want it and has been known to take it for himself. Those persimmons weren't quite ripe, curse you!