Christmas Jam and Christmas Chutney

So it’s the week of Christmas! I’m not feeling especially festive this year, as I’m sure a lot of people aren’t what with the restrictions and general gloomy atmosphere. But something that always makes me feel Christmassy is cooking and baking. So in these last few days before Christmas, I thought I’d share my two favourite recipes for Christmas Chutney and Christmas Jam. It’s also a great way to re-use jars, and both of these recipes can be vegan, with ingredients that are available at most fruit and veg shops. They are both based on a collection of recipes from Nigella, BBC Good Food and The Rustic Elk. You can change up the fruits if you like, and you can alter the quantities too, but stick to these top tips:

• For jam, use fruits high in pectin like currants, cranberries and lemons.
• If you don’t use these fruits, either add pectin or ingredients to help the setting process like chia seeds.
• For chutney, keep an eye on your balance of sweet and savoury – you don’t want a chutney that is too savoury or too much like jam.
• Both of these recipes make a large saucepan’s worth, which for me was about 4/5 mixed size jars.

Christmas Jam:

• 1 small underripe apple, peeled and chopped
• 340 grams of Cranberries (fresh or thawed from frozen)
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 orange peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 450 grams of raspberries (fresh or thawed from frozen)
• 1/4 tsp of Ground Cloves
• 1/2 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of mized spice
• 400 grams sugar (more or less depending on what fruit you use)
• 150 ml of water (again, alter this depending on what fruit you use)
• Spoonful of butter (vegan if you like)

1. First, sterilise your jars. You can do this by washing them with hot water and soap, then putting them in an oven at 140 degrees whilst you make the jam.
2. Next, chop up all of your fruits (cranberries, apples, raspberries and orange) – you want everything small, but not pureed.
3. Add your apple, cranberries, raspberries and orange to a pan. Then add your spices and your orange zest.
4. Stir in your water, and bring to the boil.
5. Then, simmer for about 15 minutes or until the fruit is soft.
6. Add your sugar, and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
7. Next, rapidly boil the jam until it reaches 105 degrees.
8. Take it off the heat and stir through some butter to reduce foaming.
9. Leave for a few minutes, and then transfer into jars.
10. Keep an eye on the jam – if it doesn’t start to be gel-like, then you may need to re-cook it.

Christmas Chutney:

• 650g cooking apples (peeled and chopped)
• 1 eating apple (peeled and chopped)
• 1 red onion, diced
• 500 grams of cranberries (fresh or thawed from frozen)
• 250 grams of dates (chopped)
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 orange (chopped)
• 350 grams sugar
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 450 ml white wine vinegar

1. First, sterilise your jars in the same way as you did for the jam.
2. Chop your apples, onion, cranberries and dates and add them to a large saucepan.
3. Add the orange pieces and the zest, and all the spices.
4. Pour over the vinegar and stir all the ingredients together.
5. Bring to a boil, and then leave on the lowest heat for about 45 minutes or until it is a sticky and combined consistency.
6. Spoon into the warm jars and seal. This can be kept in a cupboard, and can be prepared weeks before you want to eat it.

And that’s it! These are great to give as gifts, or to make to have around Christmas. The chutney goes really well with cheese, or in a Christmas sandwich with stuffing. The jam is great on toast, but you can also use it to sandwich a cake if you want a Christmassy flavour.