Rhubarb Apple Chutney
This is a home-canning recipe for a delicious chutney with the spritely taste and flavour of rhubarb and apple.
You can’t even start to find this kind of variety in stores.
This recipe is from the Ball / Bernardin Complete book.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (½ US pint / 8 oz)
Processing method: Either water-bath or steam canning
Yield: 4 x quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 10 minutes
Rhubarb Apple Chutney
Ingredients
- 250 g rhubarb (½ lb, 2 cups, diced. Measured after green tops cut off and discarded.)
- 1 lemon
- 600 g cooking apples (measured after being peeled, cored and diced. About 1 ¼ lbs / 4 cups / 4 large.)
- 125 ml water (½ cup / 4 oz)
- 900 g sugar (white. 4 cups / 2 lbs)
- 75 g cranberries (dried. ½ cup / 2 ½ oz)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg (ground)
- 100 ml juice (apple, lemon, or cranberry. Optional. 6 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Wash, dice and measure rhubarb, add to a large pot.
- Wash lemon. Zest, add to pot, then juice and add that juice to pot as well.
- Wash, peel, core, dice and measure the apples. Add to pot.
- Add water and sugar OR liquid stevia to pot, stir, put on stove top and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring frequently after it gets going to avoid scorching at the bottom.
- Add the cranberry, cinnamon, nutmeg, and added juice (optional)
- Simmer a bit more until just thick enough to stand up on a spoon (about 5 to 10 minutes)
- Pack into quarter-litre (½ US pint / 8 oz) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
Recipe notes
- The high acidity of the ingredients (apples, rhubarb, cranberries and lemon juice) makes the recipe safe on its own without added vinegar.
- The optional extra juice at the end is just to make it a bit more tart, and thin it a bit. It’s not a safety factor, so doesn’t need to be bottled lemon juice, etc.
- Don’t add anything low acid such as onion, pepper, more water, etc.
- You can reduce the sugar, or use the same volume amount of granulated Splenda®, or use 4 teaspoons of liquid stevia. We’d recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia .
- The Bernardin book says you’ll get 8 jars; the Bernardin web (as of 2017) says you’ll get 4 jars. In our experience 4 to 5 jars is closer to the mark.
- The largest tested (by Bernardin) jar size allowed is quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz.)
- The rhubarb can be fresh, or frozen.
- How red this turns out will depend on how red, or green, your rhubarb was.
Recipe source
-
- Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 239.
- Bernardin web site
(link valid as of September 2018)
Modifications made:
- Added option of a bit more juice if it gets too thick;
- Added sugar sub suggestions.
Nutrition information
Remember that rhubarb leaves are toxic if consumed. Don’t eat them, or feed them to animals.
Regular Version
Per 4 tablespoons (60 ml)
- 183 calories, 2 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 4 tablespoons, 5 points
Sugar-Free Version
Per 4 tablespoons (60 ml)
- 22 calories, 2 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 4 to 8 tablespoons: 1 point. 12 to 16 tablespoons: 2 points.
Safety check
This has a pH of 3.01, way below the upper safety cut-off of 4.6
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Bernardin ® is a registered trademark of the Jarden Corporation.
Sara
Can this be eaten right after making as well or does it need to sit in the jar?
Healthy Canning
Many people say that chutneys can be best aged a month or two before opening, but others don’t bother and start eating right away.