homemade mango chutney: recipe

The other day I made mango chutney. I make it sound so simple, don't I? However, stoning 4 giant mangos, your house stinking of vinegar and standing over a hot stove on a very hot English summer evening (read: humid!) is less than easy. It was worth it, though, when you end up with this most amazing chutney. I made about five jars (but have given a few away already) and I've been spooning it liberally onto curries and barbecue chicken ever since. 

A lot of the mango chutney's you can buy weren't sweet enough for me, or were too vinegary. which I'm not a huge fan of, so I wanted to make some that was exactly how I wanted.

I browsed a lot of recipes, and consulted my mother who is the oracle of all things jam and chutney related, and she said this BBC Food one would be a good one to try, so she helped me make it. I'll repost the recipe here:

YOU'LL NEED:
- 4 large mangoes, peeled, stoned, and sliced
- salt
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 450g (1lb) of caster sugar
- 2 baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 tbsp English mustard powder
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 600ml (1 pint) of apple cider vinegar (the recipe calls for white wine vinegar, but the apple cider vinegar is a bit more mellow, so I used that because I don't love vinegar)
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper

STEPS:
1. Put the peeled, stone and sliced mangos in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Leave overnight. In the morning, drain the juice and rinse all the fruit.
2. Put the garlic, sugar, apples, mustard, ginger, vinegar and cayenne pepper in a pan and over a low heat, dissolve the sugar.
3. Bring to the boil and add the mangoes. Simmer for 45 minutes until the chutney is thick and syrupy, keep stirring so the mixture doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. (The recipe says to simmer for 30, but after testing a bit on a cold plate in the fridge, it wasn't nearly thick enough, so we left it for about 45 minutes.)
4. Spoon (or use a jam-funnel) into sterilised jars. Allow to cool and seal. 

I gave a jar to my brother and his girlfriend, who are quite the foodies,  and my mum gave one to a friend of hers who likes chutneys, but nothing spicy, and they both agreed it was good! So I am pretty pleased, generally. It's got the perfect sweetness, with a bit of a vinegary kick that makes it just right.