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Making runner bean chutney
The last of the runner bean crop is now harvested and so we are faced with choices of how to preserve them. We have, in past years, frozen and salted them. This year we have frozen most but put some aside to make runner bean chutney.
Here is the recipe I used over the weekend:
- 1kg sliced runner beans
- 750g chopped onions
- 900ml cider vinegar
- 45g cornflour
- 1 heaped tbsp mustard powder
- 1 level tbsp turmeric
- 700g soft brown sugar
Put the chopped onion into a pan with 300 ml of vinegar. Simmer for 20 minutes. Boil the chopped beans for five minutes, strain and then add to the simmered onions.
Whilst the simmering is taking place, mix the cornflour, turmeric and mustard with a bit of vinegar to make a paste. Add this to the pan with the onions and runner beans. Pour in the rest of the vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the sugar and simmer for a further 15 minutes.
Add to warm sterilised jars.
There are two waste products from this recipe that can be used elsewhere. The water in which the beans were boiled can be saved to make a stock. I’ve just made bacon and vegetable soup using this stock. And the top and tail of the runner beans, and the stringy edges, all of which are removed before the beans are chopped, can also be used to make stock as well.
In other words, waste nothing.
Until 2009 I was working in London, UK, but I gave it up to pursue a life of self-sufficiency. My aim is to grow or forage for all my food, produce my own power and live a healthier and greener lifestyle. I left London to return to my home village of Sunniside, near Newcastle, in the North East of England. I have a couple of plots of land there as well as the garden of my house. Our village is a commuter area for Newcastle but we are surrounded by countryside which we use for picking wild foods. My mission in life is to show that it is possible to live well without destroying the planet in the process. I am also keen to ensure knowledge of historic recipes and cooking is kept alive. I regularly try out recipes from old cookbooks using the food we have grown. I make videos about our progress and about how to cook home-grown foods. These can be viewed on www.youtube.com/jonathanwallace.
www.self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com
2012-11-08 02:56:05
Source: http://self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com/2012/11/making-runner-bean-chutney.html
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