Peach Chutney is a wonderful way to use up some of your older peaches from the season. For us in the South the Peach season has come and gone again, and we still have a few peaches that are shirvial a little, no dents or bruises, but as the age slowly, the amount of water slowly dries them out and they lose their rich-fresh off the tree taste. I love getting fresh off the tree peach and eating it the field as I harvested peaches and plums as a young teenager. Peach Chutney is a great topping for pork tenderloins, and as a chutney it goes with most Indian dishes, especially....Dahl!

Peach Chutney is.....also a simple hors d’oeuvres. Simply pour a 1/2 pint over cream cheese and serve with crackers, such as water crackers, or sliced baguettes. If you’re going to serve with a pork tenderloin, wait until the roast is half way done, and then slice ½”-1” deep slice length of the tenderloin, and fill the cavity with the peach chutney, and finish grilling or roasting.

Peach Chutney Ingredients

For 10 pints of Peach Chutney, (and you can easily double this recipe), you will need the following;

• 10 pounds of peaches
• 3  ½ pounds of white sugar
• 1 pint vinegar (5%) white or apple cider works
• ¼ cup mustard seed
• 2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• ¼ pound of crystallized ginger (smashed with a hammer)
• ¾ pound of raisins (golden are neat, but red work well as well)
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves

Making and Canning Peach Chutney

Preparing the Canning Supplies for Peach Chutney

Prepare the water bath here. Get the jars and lids sterilizing. The dishwasher is fine for the jars. Be sure to let it go through the rinse cycle to get rid of any soap!  It's also a good time to start heating up the water in the canner and the small pan of water to boil the lids. A trick I personally use is to run the jars through whatever my last load of dishes was and then leave them in the dishwasher. After washing with soap and other dishes, I just wash them again with no soap and leave them in the washer.

At this point where you are ready to start making your recipe, go ahead and get the water-bath canner water started heating. Let it get up to a boil and then turn it off if you are not yet ready for it. Keep the lid on it to retain heat and steam evaporation.

Lids: Put the lids into a pan of boiling water for at least several minutes. This helps soften the sealing compound of the lid. This is why the little lid lifter with the magnet is cool, because they get very hot. I have also found it good to layer my lids in an alternating fashion in the pan, so they do not stick to each other.

Making Peach Chutney

Bring a large pot with water to a boil to peel the peaches. Here’s a great trick that works with many fruits and vegetables with skin;  dip the fruit in boiling water for 20 to 45 seconds. This also works well with tomatoes.  Remove from the boiling water using a slotted spoon and put into a large bowl or pot of cold water and ice for several minutes. The skins should easily slide off now. Slice the peaches. Cut out any brown spots and mushy areas. Cut the peaches in half, or quarters or slices, as you prefer. Remove pits and dice into ¼” chunks.

Place all the ingredients in a heavy bottom pot on the stove on a medium heat and bring to a low boil. Lower heat and simmer until thick. The raisins with pop to the top, and you can mix them back in stirring often. Keep uncovered as we are trying to cook some of the water out of it. Do not cook beyond 215 degrees as it destroys vitams and lowers the quality of the chutney later on after storage.

Canning Peach Chutney

Remove from heat and ladle into the hot sterile jars right away.  The jelly will set as it cools down after the water bath to seal the jars. Fill the hot jars to the canning line, which is just below the threads. Using the jar funnel helps with this. Wipe any spilled food from the rim; put a lid on and hand tighten the ring around them.

Waterbath Method for Preserving Peach Chutney

This is the standard method......Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. If you are at sea level and up to 1,000 ft, boil the jars for 5 minutes. Adjust accordingly if higher than 1,000 ft above sea level.
After carefully lift the heavy jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them on a towel in a draft-free place overnight.

Inversion Method for Preserving Peach Chutney

This is not USDA version, but it does work well in this case....

. . .  more on this later.

**************************************************

You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they sealed by verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it with-in a week or so. Make sure you label and date them. Use within 12 months. 18 months is maxing for me…

Michael Gokey loves teaching friends about the love of food.