How to make pear chutney

Hard fruit is the right fruit

A ripe pear collapses within twenty minutes of simmering and gives a soft, sweet, characterless chutney. An unripe one holds its shape for the full hour and a half and gives distinct pieces in a thick base.

Unripe pears also carry more acid and a little more of the tannin that gives the finished chutney some backbone. Since shop pears are sold hard by design, this is convenient.

The other consequence of pears being mild is that they take spice very well. A pear chutney can carry considerably more ginger, chilli and warm spice than an apple one without being overwhelmed.

The method

Standard chutney technique, with a firmer fruit. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times, acidity figures or jar-processing schedules. In the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority on whether and how a sealed preserve is safe to store — follow its guidance on sterilising, sealing and storing.

1. Peel, core and chop the pears into large chunks. The skins stay tough and are worth removing here, unlike with plums.
2. Chop onion, and grate a generous amount of fresh ginger — more than you would use for apple.
3. Put everything in a wide stainless steel or enamel pan with cider vinegar, sugar, salt, sultanas and whole spices in muslin.
4. Simmer uncovered for an hour to ninety minutes, stirring more often towards the end.
5. Taste for balance about two thirds of the way through and adjust. Pear chutney more often needs more salt and more acid than more sugar.
6. Apply the channel test, remove the spice bag, and pot into hot sterilised jars with vinegar-proof lids. A chutney tastes raw and vinegary when it is first potted and mellows considerably over weeks. Judging it on the day you make it is the commonest reason people conclude they do not like their own chutney.

Variations

• Pear and ginger, generously, which is the classic and the best.
• Pear and cardamom, which is more delicate and very good with cheese.
• Pear and walnut, with nuts stirred in near the end.
• Pear and star anise, in the same direction as plum.
• Pear and chilli, where the heat cuts the sweetness.
• Pear and saffron, which is unusual, expensive and striking.
• Pear and apple together, which gives body from the apple and shape from the pear.

Notes

Which pears

Firm and unripe. Conference is ideal — it stays firm even when ripe.

Peeling

Yes. Pear skin stays noticeably tough and slightly gritty.

Vinegar

Cider vinegar suits pear. Malt overwhelms it.

Spice

More than for apple. Pear is mild and can carry it.

What it goes with

Blue cheese above all, then hard cheese, cold ham, pork and game.

Why it needs a month

A chutney tasted the day it is made is aggressive, sharp and disjointed. The vinegar dominates, the spices sit separately, and it tastes like a mixture rather than a preserve.

Over a few weeks in the jar the acidity mellows, the spices distribute, the sugar and vinegar reach a balance, and the whole thing darkens and thickens slightly. What was a set of ingredients becomes one flavour. Three months is better than one, and a year is better still.

So make it in the autumn glut, label it with the date, and leave it alone. The temptation to open a jar early is the commonest reason people conclude they do not much like their own chutney. How long it keeps safely, and how it should be stored, are questions for the Food Standards Agency rather than for a recipe.

Common questions