Chutneys in the Spotlight

All the supermarkets are geared up with their Christmas goodies, and one of the areas that tends to expand at Christmas is the pickles and chutneys section of the store. It's always nice to have a range of chutneys to accompany cheeses, cold meats and (the inevitable) cold turkey. But I've often found myself disappointed over the festive period, beguiled by an interesting-sounding chutney that turns out to be a bit gloopy and tasteless. So I thought I'd give a few chutneys a test run, to see how they compare, and if they are worthy of a place on the Boxing Day supper table. I'll probably be reviewing a number of these over the coming weeks, but here are my thoughts on the first  three chutneys that  I've sampled with a nice farmhouse cheddar.

First up is Spiced Peach Chutney from Bromley's Pickle Company - who I've never heard of, but I don't usually let that put me off. Some of the best of my recent food finds have come from small companies I've never heard of!  I found this in Asda. It was pretty cheap at £1.50 for 200g. And as soon as I opened the jar I could see why. The mixture is very liquid and quite gloopy. Not one chunk of fruit to be seen - and there's supposed to be 32% peaches. Taste was very bland indeed - the overwhelming taste was actually of vinegar. If there was spice in there, it was undetectable for my palate. So, now for the marks - I'd give it 4/10 for appearance 4/10 for texture and 5/10 for taste. A rather disappointing total of 13/30. 

Next up is Chutnee's Handmade Luxury Mango Chutney. I found this in Asda and it cost £2.43 for 210g - which is quite a lot more expensive than the spiced peach chutney. I had reasonable hopes for this one, as it has what looked like mustard seeds in it and seemed to be thicker. And whilst the appearance and texture were definitely better, this definitely isn't what I'd describe as a luxury chutney. Although the label says there's 45% mango, the pieces of fruit were very small, and so it was all a bit sloppy. The flavour was okay, but without much "bite" and the whole experience was a bit slimey. So this won't be a candidate for my Boxing Day supper either. I'd mark it 5/10 for appearance 5/10 for testure and 6/10 for taste. A miserable 16/30.

Finally an Apple, Mango & Chilli luxury chutney from Clippy's apples. This is available at Ocado and is normally £2.50 for 280g. But as I write this it's currently on offer at £2.00. 

Now this is in a different league. Nice and thick, with discernible chunks of fruit and a delicious piquancy that worked really well with the cheese. I think it would also go really well with ham and cold turkey. According to the label there's 35% mango and 24% British apples - so that accounts for its superiority. And it's a definite contender for Boxing Day supper! It gets 7/10 for appearance, 7/10 for texture and 8/10 for taste - the winner of this round by a fair margin at 22/30.


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