Yesterdays Chutney

Hiya Fellow Frugellers
 Yesterday's chutney turned out pretty well. Tried a new method as suggested by D. who said that he saw no reason why I couldn't use the slow cooker to cook the chutney, which I have never thought of before.
Below is a picture of the ingredients, which are all "seconds" from the garden

Here are the ingredients...

I kilo Overgrown Rondo courgette
Half kilo windfall apples
1 kilo mixture of green tomatoes, red (split) tomatoes and mixed plums
The above can be any combination of fruit and vegetables weighing two and a half kilos
half kilo red and white onions
Half kilo sultanas
Half kilo brown sugar
600 ml vinegar
2 green chillis
5 cloves garlic
Crushed in a pestle and then placed in a muslin bag ( hankie actually!) -  teaspoon  peppercorns; teaspoon coriander seeds; teaspoon cloves; teaspoon ginger.
salt
All veg and fruit were chopped and placed in a saucepan with all the other ingredients.

When the mixture came to the boil I placed it in the slow cooker with the spice bag, turned the cooker to high and left the lid off.
It took 6 hours to get the chutney to the right consistency (gloopy!) Which was twice as long as when done in a saucepan, BUT I didn't have to stir it as often as usual as it showed no sign of sticking.

As you see it made just over 5 lb of chutney. The chutney in the pot we had with our homity pie, vegetables and salad tonight.
I bought the sugar, sultanas and vinegar from Lidl, the cost being  £1.93 All the other ingredients were from the garden, with the dry spices from my store cupboard.

Looks as though we are in for a bumper crop of damsons.. Hurrah!! The sale of damsons helps towards  winter food for our chickens. We have about eight damson trees and they are laden. The big tree in the front garden is so heavy with fruit that D. has had to put a large stake under one of the branches to hold it up.

The egg totals are very poor at  the moment and we still have broody hens. However, we have several of this years chicks coming up to point of lay so hopefully things will improve soon. I was hoping to make some Lemon curd as there were some cheap unwaxed lemons at the greengrocers, but I don't really have enough eggs to spare.
 YGD is here for the next couple of days and it is now her bed time so I had better get up there and read a story. Now she is an excellent reader, but she loves me to read a story I have read to her for the last three years. She knows it is babyish, but who cares?! She can then read to herself  if she wants but she is usually too tired  and goes straight to sleep. Bless her.
Goodnight All
Gillx