Sour Chutney?

[JulieSherris]

So, there I was with the last of the green tomatoes & last night, I made a chutney. Now, instead of popping it into the jars last night, it was really late, so I left until today... BUT it smells really really sour & vinegarish.

I've done a smell comparison with a jar of my last batch & the last one smells a lot sweeter - how can I rescue this?
I was thinking about reboiling with a bit more brown sugar, or even honey?

Any suggestions?

[Millymollymandy]

Mine have been a bit too sweet this year!

If it's just sour then I think you could reboil with some more sugar, but if the problem is burnt vinegar which I've had quite a number of times (and this even on a really slow 3 hour barely simmering temp!!) it doesn't get better with age and the only place for it is the dustbin. I have no idea what causes this as I've made the same chutney recipes several times and sometimes they were lovely and sometimes they tasted burnt.

I did make some 'branston' pickle one year but it was so sour and horrible I chucked that too!

[JulieSherris]

Ok, well I thought that I used enough sugar - I used a litre of vinegar & a 500g pack of brown sugar, but I shall add some more sugar this morning & give it a reboil to see if that makes it any better.

I hope it's rescue-able, because it's been really popular on the stall - although someone had one jar of everything yesterday, plus eggs & left me a nice crisp 10 euro note - always a nice sight first thing in the morning!!

[boboff]

If it smells of old mans socks, then it is spot on.

[JulieSherris]

Just to let you know - I reboiled with a huge heap of sugar - only had white though!

And it's all now snuggled in the jars, looking decidedly a nice & caramelised nearly black colour! It smells a lot nicer too!!

Thanks all

[Millymollymandy]

Goodo, hope it will taste OK! I mostly just use white sugar in chutney cos it is so much cheaper than soft dark brown sugar or even brown granulated.

[Marmalady]

Chutneys do tend to smell very vinegary when first made.
It is the few weeks maturation time that mellows them and makes them palatable!

[TheOnlyRogueAngel]

I do hope so, I've just made a huge batch of pumpkin chutney, with cider vinegar... and it smells very vinegar-ey.! I might leave it overnight to see what it's like in the morning.

[Green Aura]

It might take a lot longer than overnight, Lexi, so don't despair if it's still vinegary - just put it away for a while and let it do its thing. It can take from a few days to several weeks for chutneys to mature and become edible.

I think that was probably the point, though. Chutneys were ways of preserving the harvest to eat in the late winter/early spring when there wasn't much in the way of fresh vegetables about.

[TheOnlyRogueAngel]

It wasn't as bad this morning, although still vinegary, so I jarred it, and will keep fingers crossed that the vinegar smell becomes less astringent and more pumpkin-y after a few weeks of sitting in the cellar. Thank you for your advice.