Submitted by: Vicki (Minnie) Australia

This chutney is great to have with ham or pork, and a change from Cranberry Sauce at Christmas Time. This recipe is adapted from Digby Law's Pickle & Chutney Cookbook, one of the best books I've ever bought and well worth buying. Here's one place to buy Digby Law's Pickle & Chutney Cookbook online.

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STEP ONE: Choose cherries

Cherry Chutney

700g fresh cherries (I used grade one quality)
2.5 cups white wine vinegar
350g apples, peelied, cored and chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons pickling spice
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons clear honey (I used fresh from the farm)

STEP TWO: Weigh out 700g cherries

Weigh cherries, wash and remove stalks.

Leave in stones.

STEP THREE: Simmer cherries

Place cherries and 1.25 cups white wine vinegar in a 'stainless steel' pot (stock pot) and simmer until soft.

STEP FOUR: Cool and remove stones

Cool cherries enough to handle and remove and discard the stones.

Return the cherries to the same pot and vinegar.

Add the apples and onion, ginger and salt.

STEP FIVE: Add spice bag

Tie the pickling spice in a piece of muslin so it forms a bag.

And add to the pot.

STEP SIX: Cook

Cook until fruit (apples, onions, cherries) are very tender.

Note: string from spice bag, so it can be pulled easily from the chutney.

STEP SEVEN: Add remaining vinegar

Add the remaining vinegar, sugar and honey.

Stir to dissolve and cook very gently, stirring occasionally, until thick.

STEP EIGHT: Pour in hot, steralised jars

Remove the spice bag.

Pour into hot steralised jars,

remove air bubbles

and seal.

Note: I don't process chutneys and pickles (due to the vinegar content) but if you do hot water bath your chutney and pickles this is the stage to process.