A glut of beans and my mum’s Green Bean Chutney

If there’s one thing i’m partial to it’s chutneys and pickles – a cheese sandwich or sausage roll just ain’t complete without a dollop.

So it’s with much pleasure that I cooked up some chutters using the extreme glut of french beans that continue to appear in vast quantities every time I set foot on the allotment.

Home grown french beans taste very different to the ones you buy in the shops – so fresh and full of flavour. As well as preserving them I’m blanching them lightly and then portioning them off into little bags for the freezer, so we can enjoy them in the winter months too rather than buying ones that have been grown in Kenya.

I’ve pinched my mum’s recipe for Green Bean Chutney – it’s a classic in our family and I have fond memories of cracking open a fresh jar to dunk a plateful of sausage rolls in leftover from a buffet. Not sure what the occasion was but it’s one of those taste memories that pops up.

The recipe is pretty straightforward – even more so if you have a food processor to do all the chopping for you. I did it all by hand which was a bit of a faff, but my stick blender and attachments have given up the goat and I’m deciding whether to go the whole hog and get a proper grown up processor or just replace my stick blender. Maybe I should get both?!

You can use runner or french beans for this recipe and it made six jars. I’m afraid I’m using pounds and ounces here as the recipe’s from the olden days and I’m feeling far too lazy to convert it 😉

Green Bean Chutney

2 lbs beans (washed and trimmed)
1.5 lbs onions (cut into halves or quarters depending on size)
1.5 pints pickling vinegar
2 lbs Demerara sugar
1.5 tbsp cornflour
1.5 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard powder

1. Cook the beans in salted water until tender. Strain and chop finely.

2. Boil the onions in half of the vinegar until tender. Retain the liquid and chop the onions finely. In a large pan add all the vinegar, beans and onions and bring to the boil for 15 minutes. Add the sugar and mix well.

3. Make a paste in a little pot with the cornflour, turmeric, mustard powder and a little vinegar then add to the chutney. Boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and then pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Need more inspiration for preserving your autumnal harvest?

Check out my recipe for Bramble Jelly which will use up blackberries and apples in THE most delicious way >>>Recipe Here

 

Chilli Jam is another classic that my friends ask me to make over and over again. A jar of this hot sweet stuff makes a perfect Christmas gift, so get ahead and make a batch now! >>>Recipe Here