We recently got given a bag of pears by C's parents who have a tree. I've never been much of a fan of pears – I'll eat them if given them but they're not something I'd actually go out and buy. I wanted to do something different with them rather than doing the obvious thing and using them in a crumble. For the past few years a couple of weeks before Christmas I'd start thinking 'I should have done some chutney's or jams or something like that' but because these things need to be started well in advance by the time I'd thought of it it was inevitably too late. This year, inspired by the pears, I decided to actually do some canning rather than just thinking about it and a quick google bought up several interesting looking recipes for pear chutney. I looked through them and decided to use a James Martin recipe as a basis but change it a bit to suit my tastes (and budget)
Pear and raisin chutney (made 3 jars)
2 onions
1 tsp butter
100g raisins
100g sugar
500g pears
300 ml vinegar
tsp cloves
tsp chili powder
tsp mixed spice
1 star anise
Finely slice the onions. Heat some oil in a pan along with the butter – putting the oil in will help prevent the butter from burning. Put the onions in the pan under a medium/low heat and cook with the lid on for 10 minutes. This will caramelise the onions and bring out their natural sweetness.
After 10 minutes add the raisins and sugar and a splash of water. Again put the lid on and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the pears, vinegar and spices and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Once cooked fish out the star anise and spoon into sterilised jars.
How to sterilise jars
Wash the jars in hot water and rinse to get rid of the bubbles. Place on a baking tray and put in a warm oven for 20-30 minutes. Use immediately.
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