Ginger Hot Pepper Asian Pear Chutney

[catherinecarney]

Hi all--

My asian pears had a bumper crop this year and thought I'd share this recipe for a sweet/sour/hot and spicy chutney with you.

Ingredients:
Approx 4 quarts asian pear chunks (peel and core asian pears and cut into chunks)
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 cup raisins
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (wash your hands well after working with this and don't rub your eyes!)
1/4 cup grated fresh ginger (about 1 large root peeled and grated)
2 cups vinegar (either white or cider)
2 cups brown sugar

Combine the pears, onion, raisins, pepper, and ginger and allow to cook down until pears are soft (asian pears are quite juicy so this step may take a while). Be sure to cook over low heat--it's easy to burn the fruit due to the high sugar content. Your goal is to cook low and slow until the sugars in the pear juice start to caramelize. Once your pear mixture cooked down, and brown sugar and vinegar and heat over low until the mixture forms a "thickish" sauce (it will still be lumpy, but along the lines of the consistency of catsup). Fill half pint jars, process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes to seal if you decide to can it (this makes a year's supply for my family, so there's lots) or keep in the fridge. Haven't tried freezing it yet.

This is a great sauce for pork (we had it over a pork roast last weekend--good eating!), and the ginger/hot pepper spice to it makes it a great base for sweet style barbecue sauces as well.

Enjoy!

Catherine