Rhubarb Chutney

August 24, 2010

During the autumn we spent a weekend in Beechworth, VIC attending a harvest celebration. We bought the usual local cheeses, salamis and preserves at the township’s Sunday market before getting on the road.

The previous night we’d dined at Provenance and owner/chef Michael Ryan recommended we take a detour on the way back to Melbourne to visit the Ruffy Produce Store.

Well, it was and wasn’t on the way home. It was a slight trek there and then we had to retrace our steps several kilometres back to the freeway. However, as it turned out, it was worth the journey for a couple of good reasons. One was sitting in the garden in the late autumn sun enjoying a coffee. The other was the purchase a jar of the store’s own rhubarb chutney made by co-owner Helen McDougall from produce grown just a few kilometres away in Nagambie.

We opened it recently to have with a curry I’d made. It was so good we ate half a jar of the stuff. It was so good, I couldn’t bear the thought of running out.

My version - sweet and sour with lemony undertones. Excellent served with a curry.
It's also very good with a sharp blue cheese

With plenty of lovely rhubarb available at the market, I had to have a shot at re-creating the recipe. The ingredients were listed on the jar so I just ad libbed, tasting the chutney as it cooked and fine-tuning till it tasted pretty much like the original.

The store describes its chutney as “a rich flavoured, fruit chutney that is fantastic with smoked lamb or beef, turkey, cold pork and curry dishes”. I second that.

My recipe will make about four medium jars of chutney. See if you don’t become addicted, too. It’s a good mix of sweet and sharp, with the lemon adding a lively bottom note and the currants mellowing the flavour.

Rhubarb Chutney

1kg rhubarb sticks (leaves removed)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
40g fresh ginger, very finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup currants
1 large or 2 small lemons

Wash the rhubarb then cut it into 1cm pieces. Place in a large non-reactive pot with the sugar, vinegar, salt, ginger, garlic and currants.

Thinly peel the skin off the lemon and chop it very finely. Squeeze the lemon and add the juice to the pot with the lemon peel.

Bring all to the boil and then turn back to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes till it thickens to a medium jammy consistency, stirring from time to time to ensure the bottom doesn’t stick.

Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Leave for a couple of weeks to mature.

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