Tamarillo and Pear Chutney

Tamarillos are the ideal fruit to turn into chutney. My son brought up armfuls of these luscious golden fruit. Originally from Peru, these trees can be grown in both cool and warm climates. You are more likely to see the yellow varieties growing in warmer climates and the red fruit in cooler places, they are a very popular fruit to grow in New Zealand. They are fast growing, reaching up to 2 metres in height and bearing fruit within the first year... our trees certainly did!

There is an excellent article on growing tamarillos in the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of the ABC Organic Gardener magazine by Annette Mc Farlane. She informs us that non-organic, commercially grown tamarillos are routinely dipped in pesticide; so it really is worth having a go at growing your own and they are so easy to grow! There was no recipe for chutney in this article, so I decided to invent my own. I have decided that any recipes published at this blog will be my own; I will not reproduce any recipes from cookbooks. I am happy to give you the name of cook books that I use or direct you to official websites such as Jo Seager's but I do believe in 'buying the book'; even if I give out the recipe with credit to its owner, I am possibly denying them a sale and you will not experience the pleasure of thumbing through a cook book, savouring the photos and trying out the recipes, knowing that the best ones will soon be splattered with batter!


Tamarillo and Pear Chutney

I estimated I used about
75 tamarillos
1 and 1/2 cups of raw sugar
4 brown onions, finely chopped
4 pears, peeled and diced - you can substitute apples of course.
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar - you can use malt vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamon

Directions
1.Remove stalks and trim tamarillos.
2.Place in a big pot and cover with boiling water (makes peeling easier).
3.When the water has cooled sufficiently, drain off the water, peel and discard the skins.
4.Process the tamarillos - I used my stick blender, they don't need to be a puree.
I did not remove the seeds.
5.Place the tamarillos into your preserving pan with the remaining ingredients.
6.Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for approximately 80 minutes.
Keep a close watch, stir frequently to prevent the chutney burning on the bottom of the pan.
7.Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

It makes a sweet, tangy chutney, we enjoyed a dollop with the leek and vegetable pie we had for dinner last evening. It will make a great accompaniment to chicken and cold meats. No doubt it will come out to go on the sourdough bread with slices of cheese. I'm storing the jars in the fridge and let's wait and see how long these jars last! It is not worth the expense of buying the tiny jars of chutney from the supermarket, they only last about 2 days at this house. Homemade is always best and I have to say I've never seen tamarillo and pear chutney on the supermarket shelves, you might find it at a deli or a farmer's market but if you can't, you might just have to grow your own!