Date and Cranberry Chutney Recipe

I admit it, I am a hoarder. My kitchen cupboards are filled with half used packets that I bought to create a recipe, then never got round to using the rest. This weekend I decided to open my cupboards and use what I had instead of buying more ingredients. It really is amazing what I found in there. Two things I did find was a packet of dried cranberries and a packet of cooking dates. I had bought the cooking dates to make date flapjacks but at the time I got two packets. I fancied making something savoury so I hit on the idea of making Date and Cranberry Chutney. I have never tried making chutney before so I was a bit concerned about how it would work. Chutney has always been on my that is too difficult to make list, along with jam. I was surprised how easy it was.

My husband didn’t believe I had made it myself and said it tasted much better than shop bought, praise indeed. Now I know how to make chutney there will be no stopping me and I shall be trying other combinations.

Date and Cranberry Chutney Recipe

Ingredients

• 250g (8oz) dates
• 100g (4oz) dried cranberries
• 175ml (6 fl oz) cider vinegar
• 1 tsp ginger root
• 45g (2oz) onion
• 1 chilli pepper
• 7 tablespoons runny honey
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon mixed spice

Method

1. Pour ½ cup of water over the dried cranberries and dates and leave to soak.
2. While they are soaking chop the onions and the chilli into small chunks and grate the ginger root.
3. Add all the ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil.
4. Leave to simmer for 30 – 40 minutes until the chutney is thick.
5. Sterilise a jar using boiling water and spoon the chutney inside.

The chutney is lovely served with cheese, ham or chicken.