This peach chutney is along the same line as Major Grey’s chutney. That is, it has fruit, onions, ginger, sugar, vinegar, and warm spices. These are all cooked down until oozy and jam-like. The flavor profile is very complex, but the fruit remains the star of the dish. Note, Major Grey’s chutney is a very British adaptation of Indian cuisine. In Indian Cooking from My Mom, Rupen Rao has recipes for eight chutneys. None of them are similar to Major Grey’s in any way. Major Grey’s chutney uses mango as the starring fruit. Peaches can do anything that mangos can! I have also used this formula with blueberries, tomatoes and muscadine grapes. If you’ve looked at my Blueberry Chutney post, this may all sound familiar. Much has been copy/pasted.
This is a super simple condiment to make. Literally, put all the ingredients into a pot and cook it until it’s oozy and jam-like. It does take some patience. Depending on how aggressive you are with the heat, it will take at least 30 minutes, if not an hour. You must stir fairly often, to prevent sticking on the bottom of the pan. If you are more aggressive with the heat, it will cook faster, but you’ll also have to pay more attention to the stirring.
Once you’ve made up your peach chutney, what do you do with it? I think the best pairing is with pork. This is a great condiment when you are grilling. It also works great with grilled brats, pork chops or tenderloin. Of course, it goes with chicken, but what doesn’t. It makes a nice addition to a cheese plate, or make it a sweet-savory surprise in a grilled cheese sandwich. It pairs well with many fish preparations. But, I wouldn’t use it with duck breast. That’s more in the wheelhouse of Blueberry Chutney.
Another great thing is that peach chutney freezes well. I like to stash a couple 4 ounce jars of it in the freezer to remind me of July during the middle of winter.
Peach Chutney
Ingredients
- 2 pounds peaches
- 2 inch knob of ginger root (about 30 grams) finely grated
- 1 small onion (about 4 ounces) finely diced
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Prepare the Peaches
- The peaches must be peeled and chopped into ½ inch pieces.
- There are two methods of peeling peaches. The first is simply to use a vegetable peeler. This works best with firmer peaches. Try to incorporate a little horizontal slicing movement or gentle zig-zagging as you peel, allowing the blade of the peeler to do the work. Draging the peeler straight down will often pull on the skin and not work as well.
- The second method is a blanch and tug method. Bring a pot of water to a boil and set up an ice bath. Score an X in the bottom of each peach. Working with 2 or 3 peaches at a time, blanch the peaches in the boiling water for 30-60 seconds and transfer them to the ice bath. Remove from the ice bath and tug at the skin from the scored X. If they were blanched for long enough, the skin should pull off in sheets.
Cook the Chutney
- Combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pot over medium-high heat.
- Simmer and stir regularly, using a wooden spatula to scrape up anything that is sticking to the bottom of the pot and a silicon spatula to re-incorporate what sticks to the side of the pot. The peaches will loose their form and the onions will soften. As the water content steams off, the chutney will thicken. You must stir more often as the chutney thickens.
- The chutney is ready when you can swipe a path on the bottom of the pot and the chutney does not flow back to fill the gap.
Notes
- This recipe produces about two and a half cups of chutney.
- Garam masala is a type of curry powder. It incorporates common curry powder ingredients such as cumin, coriander and cardamom, but it is characterized by warm spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. If you don't have garam marsala, simply substitute cinnamon, or a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg, or a pumpkin pie spice blend.
- I usually use a microplane to grate the ginger, so it's flavor is evenly distributed and there are no little bites of ginger. Mincing with a chef's knife works as well, but the texture of the ginger will be detectable and they will provide little bursts of flavor. Both methods are interesting, just different.
