Hustling Ginger-Peach Chutney

I was reading one of those self help business books and the lesson in a given chapter was to emulate drug dealers. It wasn't suggesting you act all shady or make house calls, but rather that businesses should create something that can be given away in small amounts, only to attract a group of addicts (see: loyal customers) that would come running on a regular basis for a good dose of that ish.

A good drug dealer can probably also teach us a lesson or two in inventory management. A further parallel I would like to explore is that of the fruit farmer and the cook (the latter referring to myself - selling drugs would scare the crap out of me). Dealers, farmers and cooks often find themselves with ample supply at certain periods, and a drought in others.

So go to the market immediately, chat a farmer up, GIVE HIM MAD PROPS for hustling hard enough to get you a delicious basket of peaches (or any other fruit still in season) on the cheap and be on your way to eating sustainably flavourful food through the drought/cold ass winter.

Preserving is a wonderful thing. Last weekend I made a chutney.
Chutney is similar to jam, but it's a bit more of a free-for-all, it uses less sugar and instead incorporates vinegar. Chutney goes on MEAT and FISH and other manly dishes to which you aren't shy to complement with a soft word like chutney.

All my pictures involve the dish I made 2 days later incorporating the chutney, but the tale of chutney making is much more worthy and it goes like this:

Gather:
4 pounds of peaches
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of cider vinegar
3 tablespoons of finely chopped ginger
1 Onion, diced pretty fine

First, peel them peaches. Clearly the most painful part of the process, but skip this step and be doomed to sifting through pieces of skin all winter. To get the skin off easily, slit an X in the bottom, dunk them in boiling water for 60 seconds, and then in ice cold water. The skin should come right off.

Core and cut the peaches into some small pieces. They are probably piping hot right now so the multi-tasker in you would be wise to toss the onion, ginger and a bit of the vinegar in a pot in the meantime, at medium heat.

When the onion is cooked down a bit, toss the peaches, brown sugar and the rest of the vinegar in there. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Taste it. What does it need? Let the dedication inside you guide your instinct to play with quantities if needed.

Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes to let it thicken a bit.

Let it cool, jar it and give samples to your friends. They'll be offering weird favors in exchange for more. This is your chance to live a bountiful winter my friend!



I added it to a pork tenderloin that was lightly seasoned and grilled. Ate some potatoes on the side with some fresh herbs.

-Dave