Spiced Apple Chutney Recipe

I recently taught a class, Culture Your Holiday! where together we made my recipes for Cultured Cranberry Sauce, Spiced Apple Chutney and Perfect Pear Butter. The class was an absolute blast and I look forward to doing more classes like it in the future. 

As crazy busy as things are as a mother of three (with two 6 month old babies!) it's so important for me to do things besides nurse all day long! Being a mother fulfills me, but so does fermenting delicious food and sharing that love with others- and so many other things, too! It's all about balance. Being at home raising my daughters makes me appreciate my time when I'm doing other things, doing other things outside my home helps me appreciate my time at home. It's a good match! 

All of the recipes at the class were delicious. I brought them to my family's Thanksgiving and even folks who had never tried fermented food before enjoyed them! That always makes me super happy! Today, I'm going to share the recipe I used for the Spiced Apple Chutney because it's been particularly popular. It's similar to the recipe for 5-Spice Apple Chutney in the The Idiot's Guide to Fermentation, but I've made a few changes to make it just how I like. Hope you enjoy!

Spiced Apple Chutney

Yield: 1 pint

Equipment: mixing bowl, pint mason jar 

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups chopped apples (approximately 1 large apple)
• ½ cup chopped nuts and/or raisins
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs starter (live culture whey/brine from a previous ferment such as carrot sticks or sauerkraut)
• ¼ cup filtered water
• 2 tbs rapadura
• ½ tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt 

Directions: Chop apples and nuts. Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Place all ingredients into a pint mason jar. Press pieces down below the brine. Leave one inch head space. Leave on counter for 1-3 days. Use within 1-2 months. (Options: add a little bit of onion or other vegetable to this ferment to make it slightly more savory than sweet. Use a different fruit other than apples- pears, plums, etc.) 

(photos by aazzmannga)