We have a pear tree which produces loads of fruit every year, but these pears are not good eaters, as they are grainy and bitter, compared to our conference pears. In years gone by most of these pear end up going to waste and feeding the wasps and birds, however this year we realised how good they are for cooking with. We love chutney making and Indian food, so thought we would try a Gujarati style mango chutney, but with pears instead.

We found about 12 different mango and pear chutney recipes which we liked and created a list of ingredients and method that we thought might work well…

We decided to go with Jaggery rather than brown or white sugar, as it has a more distinctive taste and more nutritional value. To get Jaggery and the spices at a sensible price I would highly recommend visiting the part of town where you most likely to find an Asian local super/mini market. We use Paks in Normanton, Derby.

This Gujarati style pear chutney recipe turned out better than we could have hoped for. We think it is our best chutney yet and our friends and family agree. We have only eaten it days after we made it and I can’t wait for a couple of months to pass for it to mature, when we will start using and sharing it. I hope you get to make it and enjoy it too and be sure to let me know how you get on…

Ingredients:

• 10 lb Pears (peeled and cored weight)
• 1 lb Onions (peeled weight)
• 8 oz Root Ginger (peeled weight)
• 1 bulb  Garlic
• 1 pt of White Wine Vinegar
• 3 lb Jaggery
• 8 tbsp Crushed Chilli Flakes
• 4 tbsp Cumin Seeds
• 4 tbsp Fenugreek Seeds
• 4 tbsp Black Onion Seeds
• 4 tbsp Fennel Seeds
• 4 tbsp Mustard Seeds
• 2 tbsp Cardamom Seeds (not pods)
• 4 tbsp Crushed Black Pepper Corns
• 2 tbsp Salt

Method:

1. Toast all the spice until they give of an aroma (in a dry frying pan)
2. Add garlic, onions, ginger, vinegar and toasted spices into a very large pan, we actually used 2 large pans to help it reduce. Simmer for 15 minutes
3. Add chopped pears. Simmer for 20 minutes
4. Chop up the Jaggery, add and simmer for 90 minutes.

We would recommend not using a pan lid, to help it reduce, creating a thicker chutney.

Here are the photos that we took during the process…