Nectarine chutney

Mr. Pickings and I love a good road-trip, especially to one of our fave spots- northern NSW.

Byron Bay hinterland (photo from byronbayadventuretours.com.au)

We steer clear of the heavily-touristed and expensive parts like Byron Bay, and head for them thar hills!  Or Ballina--which is right on the river and also very close to the sea so that you can encounter sea-turtles and dolphins in the river, and in the season, whales just past the breakwaters.  We once had the pleasure of seeing a dolphin leaping around in front of us right next to the riverbank, only a metre away.  I think my favourite would have to be the sea-turtles; they are slow and ponderous and just lovely to watch.  (And also in danger from speedboats, plastic rubbish and discarded fishing lines).

beautiful sea turtle (image from www.documentingreality.com)

It is also a foodies' paradise down there with coffee and macadamia plantations, farmers' markets,  a well-known cookie company and lots of great little cafes serving local and often organic foods.
I have an old clipping from a magazine with a recipe for Byron Bay nectarine chutney, and once a year when the fruit is plentiful, I get cracking and make a big batch.  There are lots of chutney recipes on the Net so you can try all sorts of variations accordingly.  But here is the one I have used with a few of my own little changes.

Ingredients:

1 kg nectarines- chopped into small chunks
2 onions finely chopped
500g sultanas or raisins- I like sultanas!
150g glace ginger
850g-1kg sugar- depends how sweet you like it
3-4 small red chillies chopped finely
4 tsp yellow mustard seeds
700ml vinegar- I like to use a mix of white wine, sherry and whatever other vinegar I have in the pantry
1-2 tsp salt-  I had used 1 tsp but found it needed more
pepper

Method:

Shove everything into a large, heavy-bottomed pot, and mix it all up together
bring to the boil, then simmer with frequent stirring to prevent sticking for anything from 1.5 hours to 3 hours
then bottle in sterilised jars and whack in the fridge for up to a year.  I know it sounds scary to cook for so long but you can do lots of other things in between and just give it a stir every so often.  I think it may have been that my nectarines were very unripe- more like apples-that it took so long to thicken.  I also have a sneaking suspicion that I didn't turn the stove-top high enough so that it wasn't particularly hot even after an hour.  So learn from my mistakes- make sure the heat is high enough and try to get ripe fruit.  The recipe says it should only take an hour and a half, and I have made it in that time before!

beautiful fruit ready for the chop

everything chopped and ready for the pan

ok here we go- 3 hours of simmering to come

see my beautiful wooden stirring spoon-it came from the mantelpiece of an old homestead in Tenterfield

looking thick after a couple of hours

ladle the chutney into a Pyrex jug so you can easily pour it into the jars

the end result!  lots of lovely jars of chutney to see you through till next stone fruit season-unless you eat it all first...