Cranberry Apple Chutney

Thanksgiving in America is just around the corner, but we already have had ours here in Canada. For Thanksgiving dinner, we had all the makings of the fancy dinner with slow cooked, super moist and juicy roast chickens (yes …no turkey), gravy, a couple of sides, the pumpkin crumble…(yummy)and the Cranberry Apple Chutney. Of course, I ended up cooking big batches of everything to share with family and have leftovers for a couple days afterwards. Cause it was a lot of cooking I wanted to spread out my cooking/ prep work over a few days. The cranberry Apple Chutney is one of those things that you can cook a few days before as the flavours intensify as it sits for a while.

This Cranberry Apple chutney is a perfect balance of sweet and tart and is choked full of flavours. The best thing about this chutney is that it is super easy to make and can last for a while in the refrigerator if stored in sterilized jars. It not only goes wonderfully well with the roast for your thanksgiving dinner but tastes great as a relish in sandwiches or with cream cheese and crackers.

I used fresh cranberries for the chutney, but you can use either fresh or frozen. A couple of crisp granny smith apples, some sugar and spices and some apple cider vinegar, and you have a cranberry apple chutney that is bursting with flavours!

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh cranberries washed

2 medium granny smith or any other tart variety chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped dates

1/4 tsp powdered fennel

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp dry ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

pinch of black pepper

salt to taste (I added 1/2 tsp)

Method:

Wash and rinse the cranberries. Put the cranberries along with all the other ingredients in a heavy bottom pan at high heat.

Once the mixture starts bubbling and cranberries start getting squishy, about 8-10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook.

The mixture will be watery/runny at this point. Stir the mixture every so often and squish a bit with the back of the spoon.

Continue cooking till most of the water evaporates. Let it cool before storing in clean, dry jars.