Apple pear chutney with mustard seeds

Apple pear chutney
This apple pear chutney screams autumn to me. It is delicious, sweet and perfect for eating with a side of pancakes or old cheese.
Wholesale
One of the things I love about going to the wholesale store in Amsterdam is the fact that they always have something to taste and try. Ofcourse it’s great if you’re hungry but also quite good if you’re into discovering new things. And those things don’t necessarily need to be anything world shockingly new….
Tom and I were shopping for our pulled pork ingredient… Well not the pulled version of course but the meat that goes into the pulled pork is not something you can buy in any regular butcher here so we had to go to Amsterdam.

Chutney
And while browsing the shop they had a tasting of some kind of pate which was good, but the chutney that went with it was soooo much better. I looked at the tiny jars they sold of the stuff and it was an apple pear chutney for which they asked 5 euro.
A bit overpriced if you ask me and looking at the ingredients I figured it would be much more cost effective to make this apple pear chutney myself. So going home I looked in the fruit basket and I still had some Elstar apples and Conference pears. Maybe not the ideal chutney making fruit but I figured I’d give it a go anyway and started chopping away.

The funny part was that I had expected the fruit to fall apart much more but after having cooked it for about 40 minutes it was still in one piece. Tender and delicious but not broken down, like I thought it would. The taste is fantastic and I recently had this with little pumpkin pancakes and it was fantastic. It would work really well with meat too or with a pate on toast.
Versatile
All in all you can make this apple pear chutney with just about any fruit you have on hand. It might have different results in terms of the fruit falling apart (or not) but the result will always be delicious. No matter what you do.
Apple pear chutney with mustard seeds
Ingredients
- 400 gr Elstar apples
- 400 gr Conference pears
- 150 gr apricot puree
- 150 gr sugar
- 100 ml apple vinegar
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 10 cm pcs of ginger grated
- 1 tsp anisseeds
- 3 pcs of star anis
Instructions
- Peel and core the apples and pears and cut into chunks. I had previously made the apricot puree from dried apricots, soaked for a few hours and then blended. It’s optional but it does add a nice flavor. You can also add a few extra apples or pears.
- Sprinkle the fruit bits with the apple vinegar. Sprinkle with the sugar, add the apricot puree and mix it all together.
- Peel the ginger and grate finely or squeeze in a garlic squeezer.
- Put the apple/pear mixture with the vinegar and sugar into a pot with a thick bottom. Add your soices, the mustardseed and the ginger. Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to let it simmer softly.
- How long it will take to reach the desired consistency might vary a bit depending on the ripeness of your fruit. I let it simmer for about 40minutes and the apples where still in one pice but nice and soft.
- Once done, remove from the fire.
- Divide the mixture across a few sterilized jars and close them tightly.
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.