How do I make and store chutney safely?

Chutney is one of the safer preserves to make at home because the acid does most of the work. The risks come from altering a recipe to taste, and from lids that corrode.

Safety

Step by step

1. Use a tested recipe and follow the ratios.The vinegar and sugar quantities are the preservation, not the seasoning. Reducing either because it tastes sharp or sweet raw is the single most common way home chutney goes wrong.
2. Use vinegar of the right strength.At least 5% acetic acid — check the label. Malt, cider and wine vinegars are all fine. Diluted or homemade vinegars of unknown strength are not.
3. Prepare the fruit and vegetables evenly.Cut to a similar size so everything softens together. Chutney is forgiving about what goes in and unforgiving about pieces that stay hard.
4. Cook it long and slow, uncovered.Two hours or more at a gentle simmer. It needs to reduce, and reducing is what concentrates the acid and sugar as well as developing the flavour.
5. Use the channel test to judge it.Draw a wooden spoon across the base of the pan. If the channel holds for a couple of seconds before filling, it is ready. If liquid runs straight back, keep going.
6. Use a stainless or enamelled pan.Never aluminium, copper or unlined cast iron. The acid reacts with them, which taints the chutney and damages the pan.
7. Sterilise the jars properly.Washed hot, then dried in an oven at around 140°C for fifteen minutes. Lids go separately into boiling water for five minutes — oven heat damages their sealing compound.
8. Use vinegar-proof lids.This is specific to chutney. Plain metal lids corrode against the vinegar vapour, which taints the contents and eventually perforates. Look for plastic-coated or purpose-made preserving lids.
9. Fill hot into hot jars.Both hot. Leave about a centimetre of headspace, wipe the rim clean, and seal immediately. A wiped rim is what lets the lid seal — chutney on it is where mould starts.
10. Check the seal once cool.The lid centre should be concave and should not click when pressed. Anything that clicks has not sealed — refrigerate it and eat it within a few weeks.
11. Mature it before eating.At least a month, and three is better. Fresh chutney tastes harshly of vinegar; maturing rounds it out completely. This is not optional if you want it to taste right.
12. Store somewhere cool, dark and dry.A cupboard is fine. Properly made and sealed, it keeps for a year or more. Refrigerate after opening and use within a couple of months.
13. Label everything with contents and date.At the point of filling. Two similar chutneys are indistinguishable by January, and the date decides when it is ready.
14. Discard anything that looks wrong.Mould, a bulging lid, fermentation or an off smell. Do not scrape mould off a preserve — the threads run far deeper than the visible patch.

Tips

• Open a window. Boiling vinegar for two hours makes a house smell strongly for a day, and it is worth choosing when to do it.
• Make it in autumn with a glut and eat it from Christmas. The maturing time fits the season exactly, which is why it is a traditional autumn job.
• A jam funnel makes filling clean, and a clean rim is the difference between a jar that seals and one that grows mould.

Common mistakes

• Reducing the vinegar or sugar because it tastes strong — They are the preservative. A chutney with less acid or sugar than the recipe specifies will not keep safely, however good it tastes on the day.
• Using plain metal lids — Vinegar vapour corrodes them from the inside, tainting the chutney and eventually perforating the lid. Vinegar-proof lids are specific to this.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask