When the Courgettes Take Over

It happens every August. You pick two courgettes for dinner and by the time you turn round there are four more the size of your forearm, and the plant is still flowering. Leaving them on the plant turns them into marrows with tough skins and watery flesh, but there is only so much ratatouille one household can eat. Chutney is the answer. It uses up a genuine glut, costs very little, and fills the store cupboard with jars to hand out at Christmas.

This recipe is deliberately forgiving. Courgettes are about 95 per cent water, so the trick is to salt them first and then cook the chutney down slowly until it is thick enough to hold a line drawn through it with a wooden spoon. Get that right and the rest takes care of itself.

What You'll Need

This makes about five or six jars of 300ml, depending on how far you reduce it.

• 1.5kg courgettes, topped, tailed and cut into 1cm dice — marrows work too, but scoop out the seedy centre
• 500g onions, peeled and chopped small
• 2 tsp fine salt, for drawing out water
• 600ml cider vinegar — malt vinegar is fine and sharper, white wine vinegar is gentler
• 350g light muscovado sugar, or granulated if that is what is in the cupboard
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
• 2 tsp ground ginger, or a thumb of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Half a tsp ground cloves — go carefully, they overpower easily
• 1 tsp chilli flakes, optional
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

Use a stainless steel, enamel or non-stick pan. Vinegar reacts with bare aluminium and turns the chutney an unappetising grey.

How to Make It

Start with the salting. Tip the diced courgettes into a colander set over a bowl, sprinkle over the salt, toss and leave for two hours. A surprising amount of liquid will collect underneath. Rinse the courgettes briefly and pat them dry — this one step is what stops you standing over a pan for four hours waiting for a watery chutney to thicken.

Warm a tablespoon of oil in your pan and soften the onions over a low heat for ten minutes without letting them colour. Add the garlic and mustard seeds and cook for another minute, until the seeds begin to pop.

Add the courgettes, vinegar, sugar, dried spices and chilli, if using. Stir well, bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce the heat and leave it uncovered. Stir every ten minutes or so to stop it catching on the base.

After about an hour and a half, the chutney should have darkened to a rich brown and the vinegar smell will have mellowed. Test it by dragging a wooden spoon through the middle: if the base of the pan stays visible for a second or two before the mixture flows back, it is ready. If it still looks loose, keep going in ten-minute bursts. A tablespoon of cornflour slaked in cold water will rescue a batch that refuses to thicken, but slow reduction gives a better texture.

Sterilising and Jarring

Wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse, then stand them upside down in a low oven at 140°C for fifteen minutes. Fill them while both jars and chutney are still hot, using a jug or a wide funnel. Push the chutney down with a spoon to remove air pockets, leaving about 1cm of headspace.

Wipe the rims, seal, and label with the date and contents. Metal lids benefit from a vinegar-proof barrier — a square of greaseproof paper under the lid is the old-fashioned fix and works perfectly.

Making It Your Own

• Fruit: swap 200g of courgette for chopped apples, or add a handful of raisins or chopped dates for a darker, sweeter chutney.
• Heat: a chopped Scotch bonnet, or an extra teaspoon of chilli flakes, lifts it beautifully alongside mature Cheddar.
• Spice: a star anise or a few bruised cardamom pods added with the vinegar, fished out before jarring, gives a warmer, more aromatic result.
• Other gluts: green tomatoes, runner beans, marrows and windfall apples all work alongside the courgettes, though beans need a longer cook.

Leave It Alone For a Month

New chutney tastes sharp, raw and a bit disjointed. That is normal. Put the jars somewhere cool and dark and forget about them for at least four weeks — two months is better. During that time the vinegar softens, the sugar rounds out and the spices settle into the background where they belong. Unopened jars keep for a year or more; once opened, keep them in the fridge and use within a month.

Serve it with cold ham, pork pies, sausages, a ploughman's or a wedge of strong cheese. And when next August arrives and the plants are groaning again, you will be glad of a shelf full of jars — and so will everyone you give one to.