Peach Chutney, lactofermented
Chutney has this perfection about it! The blending of sweet and sour is rounded out with delicate balancing of salt and spice. It can take some heavy dishes from decent to delightful such as spicy middle eastern samosas or roasted pork. Lactofermenting it is optional but adds a great health benefit for the gut!
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsps. coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp. mustard seed
- 2 yellow onions diced
- 2 Tbsps. minced ginger
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp. ground turmeric
- 3 Tbsps. preserved lemon or lemon zest
- 1 tsp. ground allspice
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1 tsp. crushed chipotle pepper
- 1 Tbsp. chopped chili pepper Any hot pepper could be used but the coloring of a red pepper is pretty in this dish.
- 1 1/2 C. vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sea salt
- 2 C sucanat
- 2 lbs. sliced peaches
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1 C raisins
- 3 Tbsps. Active Whey
Instructions
- Start by heating the oil with the mustard seed. Add in the onion when the oil is hot but before the mustard seeds have started dancing out of the pan. Add in the ginger, lemon, and bay leaves. Saute until they have begun to soften and are fragrant, two or three minutes.
- Add in the spices, pepper flakes, and chopped pepper. Then add the vinegar, salt, and sugar and let the mixture simmer for a good fifteen minutes until the whole thing is well melded together.
- Add in the molasses, sliced peaches, and raisins and stir well. Let the mixture cook on medium low for about half an hour. Stir often, checking the heat of your stove top so that the mixture is cooking well but not sticking to the bottom of the pot. Adjust your temperature appropriately.
- When your peaches are at your preferred degree of softness and your flavors are well melded turn off the heat and taste your chutney. The beauty of chutney is in the fine tuning of the flavors. This is the most important step. If the peaches were very ripe and juicy you may want to add more salt and vinegar to offset the sweetness. If, on the other hand the peaches were only barely getting ripe, you may need to add more sugar. You have the blending of sweet, salt, sour, and spice to balance. Taste, if too sweet add salt or vinegar. If too salty add more of the others. Is it exotic enough, if not add some more allspice or maybe some drops of ginger essential oil. This is where you have to be artistic. Think of yourself as a fine piano tuner, only you are tuning chutney instead of an instrument.
- When the chutney has been fine tuned and has cooled to at least baby-bottle temperature (75-90 degrees) then you add the whey. Stir the whey in well. Get it into a half gallon jar or crock to ferment at room temperature for at least a week, longer if your kitchen is cold.
- The chutney is ready to use as soon as it is finished cooking. Of course, while fermenting the chutney can be used. When you are satisfied with it's fermentation you can move it into the refrigerator where it can be stored for many months. I have never had it go bad and it has set in my refrigerator for at least five months. I'm sure it would turn eventually, but the lactofermenting helps it to last well in addition to adding gut benefits.
