Just another way to use up all of those zucchini.

Ingredients

First day:

  • 1.5 kg assorted zucchini, seeded and chopped into 1cm cubes
  • 1/3 cup salt

Second day:

  • 5 medium tomatoes or chopped or a couple of tins of tomatoes
  • 3 small onions chopped
  • 2 medium cooking apples diced
  • 2 1/2 cups white vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups dates, or sultanas
  • 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 2 teaspoons each ground ginger and ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Method

  1. First Day: Put zucchini in a bowl in layers, sprinkling each layer with some of the salt. Cover the bowl and set aside for 24 hours.
  2. Next day: rinse the salted zucchini under cold running water, and set aside to drain.
  3. Add the tomatoes, onions and the apples, drained zuccchini and vinegar to a large pot.
  4. Bring to the boil on medium heat, then reduce the heat and cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
  5. Add the dates, brown sugar, mustard seeds, ginger, allspice, nutmeg to the pan. Stir well and bring to the boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently for 2 hours, or until the chutney is thick and leaves a clear trail when a wooden spoon is drawn slowly across the bottom of the pan. Take care not to cook the chutney too quickly or it will stick to the bottom of the pan.
  6. Spoon into clean, warm, dry jars and cover immediately with baking paper and lids. When the chutney is cold, label the jars and store them in a cool, dark, airy cupboard for two to three months to allow the flavours to mature before eating.
  7. I placed the chutney into zip lock bags, laid them out flat and froze. No need to worry about anything going off.