[Sca-cooks] RE: Homemade Food Gifts

[nickiandme at att.net]

I created/made a curried pear chutney this fall to give out to family/friends at Christmas/12th Night.
It took about 10-15 pounds of pears - skinned and cooked down to almost a mush (I trimmed, split and pitted the pears. Then parboiled them to make the skins easy to remove. I put the pear halves and 2 cups of water into my crock pot and set it to cook on low for 8 hours.  Then I mashed them in the crock pot. No draining.  I wanted a nice sauce. 
1 box (about 1 & 1/2 cups ) of currants
3 large (softball sized) onions - diced and sauteed in olive oil.
1 cup of Muscovo sugar - This is dark brown sugar with a strong molasses flavor - substitutions should include brown sugar and molasses.  This added a nice richeness in flavor.  I suppose I could have just added the molasses - but what the heck, I had the muscovo on hand.
Curry powder - I used Spice Islands - approx 3  - 4 tablespoons worth. Adjust this seasoning according to your personal preferences.
I then canned (hot-packed/sealed) them in a mixture of pint and quart jars.
This tastes great as a topping on  chicken, pork and lamb when served over rice or pasta. 
Kateryn de Develyn