Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Honey….

I was very short of time last night however I simply have to get some more chutney and pickles done before the Sugar and Spice event in a months time…My stock pile is looking quite healthy now but when placed on a 6ft table I'm guessing it's still going to look a little lost! I have however, got some larger 8oz jars now for the pickled vegetables and they will make the spread look a bit fuller! I actually prepared some red cabbage before starting on the chutney last night by slicing and layering with salt…it's been left overnight in the fridge. That made a mess of my hands and chopping board! Purple fingers and a lot of scrubbing later I started on the Honey Chutney…

I found a recipe for Uncooked Honey Chutney which sounded a little unusual and fresh. A quick whizz round the grocers later and I'd got all of the necessary ingredients and within an hour was at home chopping and peeling and mixing. Possibly the easiest chutney I've put together and very pretty once in the jars! No boiling (and very probable re-boiling) no overpowering smell of pickle and vinegar in the house (a smell I've become very accustomed to over the past few months!) AND only one pan to clean afterwards!!!! I made sure the jars were piping hot when I potted it all up so that a good vacuum was created. With the contents going in cold I was a little worried that the usual vacuum seal created by putting hot chutney into hot jars and the resulting cooling process would obviously not be created! I don't have any actual burns from the hot jars but I heard my fingers sizzle when I picked the first one up!!!

The chutney is a gorgeous golden colour! The chunkiness of it is really appealing to me too…plus because the fruit is raw I'll bet it'll be really fruity and fresh when ready!

Sugar 'n' Spice...

Chutney world domination is one step closer!

We have scheduled our first pamper party / ladies shopping day at a local village hall! Three of us have got together to organise these events under the name 'Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice' with lots of lovely stalls and niceties for the locals so that we can sell our wares. We'll also be donating some of the proceeds to a local recipient - in this instance it will be the village school who will be our beneficiary. We have 13 stalls already confirmed ranging from homemade chocolates to personalised pottery to handbags and scarves all the way to THE FAT CAT Chutneys! There's going to be a raffle and teas and cakes...I'm really excited about the whole prospect and hope that the local community gets behind us! We'll obviously be doing the marketing and organisational side of things - so far we've got flyers to produce, leaflets, a facebook group (look out for that one!) and I'm going to try and contact a few local businesses. My background is not in marketing however - if anyone has any other promotional ideas I'd really be happy to hear them!

I had best get on, my stock pile is growing but if I'm to be ready for the event mid May then I am going to need to get the remainder of the stock done this week and next. I've found a few more exciting recipes - one for a Honey Chutney which requires no cooking! Perfect if I haven't got much time for all of the boiling and re-boiling! I think I'll be preparing that one this evening, it looks lovely! It will also give me a nice balance between the sweet and savoury chutneys that I have now in stock...although I think I'm going to need another tomato based one without as much (or any) chili in it as the Fiery Tomato Chutney has...it's mind blowing now it's had some time to settle in! I've also got some pickled vegetable ideas which I think will go down a storm with the local foodies...now all I need to do is source some freshly laid eggs for the pickled eggs.

It's all systems go!!

Feeling a little Grated...

Last night was British Carrot and Garlic Chutney night! I bought all of my ingredients:

• British Carrots


• Garlic


• Organic Cyder Vinegar


• Salt


• Star Anise


• Cinnamon


• Coriander Seeds


• Ginger


• Chilies


• Sugar

...and set about getting all of the ingredients prepared and into the vinegar and spices to marinate for 24 hours before I cook it and jar it all up tonight. I picked this recipe because it's a little different I think from the other chutney recipes I have seen out there (I'd also welcome you all to suggest some other combinations which are unusual!) and I think it should be a very vibrant orange when in the jars. All of the other chutneys are sharing the same colour scheme, purple, brown, red so I'm hoping an orange one will add some sparkle to the mix!

Have you ever grated 2kg of carrots? I have and I'm not looking forward to doing it again. I actually managed to grate my thumb (twice) and a finger. Each injury meant that I had to throw that particular carrot away and clean everything down before resuming. It was probably my own fault for having a glass of red vino on the go at the same time but by the 10th or 11th carrot the wine was more of a necessity than a luxury. I was stood grating for nearly 2 hours!!! My arms are a little sore today, although I'm glad of the mini workout as I haven't managed to get to the gym for the past few weeks!

The mixture is sat marinating nicely and is indeed a great and very bright orange colour which I hope remains once heated and spooned into the jars, I can't think of an ingredient in the mix which will change the colour?...It's sitting very nicely currently on my work top surface just waiting for me to come home tonight (I will of course be attempting to finish off the bottle of red whilst preparing!) I cannot wait to see what it looks like in the jars and more so, to taste it in a few weeks once the vinegar has settled down.

I shall of course be posting an update!!!!

A Nice Pear!

My next chutney adventure was inspired by a seasonal fruit and vegetable list I found on Jamie Oliver's website. apparently pears are in season currently and just coming out of season in the UK so now would be an opportune time to test a pear chutney. I l.ove pears and thought a sweet chutney would be good to add into the mix of the fiery tomato chutney and the pickled onions that i have already made. (Incidentally the onions were taste tested for the first time this week and blimey they are HOT!!! Good, but hot!!)

Again I picked a recipe with simple ingredients as I'm making a batch at a time and am trying to keep things just on the nice side of difficult for me! Nothing too easy, there would be no point. The recipe was made up of:

Pears

cooking apples

onions

seedless raisins

cayenne pepper

all spice

garlic

salt

nutmeg

soft brown sugar

and white distilled vinegar.

Not too difficult to source!!! Everything pretty much just gets chopped up and thrown in a pan to boil. This time I re-boiled the mixture to condense it even further, the consistency is lovely now and I'm hoping it also concentrates the flavour. I'm sure it will! I've found there's not anything too complex to the chutney production itself! I'm just trying to ensure the recipes are right.

I was really hoping the chutney would go a lovely golden colour but instead it's a deep brown which I'm guessing is the raisins at work. If anyone out there has a recipe for a lovely golden chutney (it doesn't have to be pear) I'd really appreciate a hint at it!!

On that note I'd also like to add that if anyone wants one of my recipes with quantities, please just drop me a line or leave a comment. I'll more than happily provide!!!

In conclusion though I've got 16 jars from this batch so I'm happy with the quantity...I'll just have to wait a few weeks to taste it properly by which time it should have 'matured.'

Let me begin with a confession – this is my third attempt at a food blog! I have recently been inspired though by a number of other food blogs which have put mine to shame so I’m hoping that third time is a charm and I may actually be able to produce something that looks half decent!

I’ve launched a business…”The Fat Cat” making chutneys, pickles and luxury sauces! I’ll be selling my wares at village fetes and hopefully at some evening parties run and hosted by friends! (In conjunction with two other friends who also have various items to sell). We haven’t got the ball rolling just yet – in fact I’m just testing out a number of chutney recipes and pickled onions. I’ve bought all of the jars so there’s no going back now! They are currently littering my house so I feel now that I have to fill them!

So far I’ve managed to successfully make Delia’s Chili Jam and a Spiced Apple Chutney…both were received well by the guinea pigs in my office. In fact I’ve had requests for more of the chili jam, although this won’t be coming for a while yet until I get the rest of the chutneys tried and tested. So world domination one chutney at a time!!!