Full question
Don't you have to go through the canning process of a boiling water bath (or pressure canning) to preserve the Christmas Chutney for a year? Many thanks.
Our answer
Nigella's Christmas Chutney (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is a traditional British chutney that is made with apple, cranberries, dates, sugar, vinegar and spices. The long cooking time, that evaporates most of the water in the mixture, combined with the high proportions of sugar and vinegar, helps to preserve the chutney without the need for canning after the chutney has been cooked. You do need to put the chutney into jars that have been sterilised (as directed in step 1 of the recipe) and they need to have lids that are vinegar-proof, so that the seal doesn't deteriorate during storage. Also once the chutney has been opened it should be stored in the fridge.
We would mention that the Fig And Olive Chutney is slightly different as it is chopped in a food processor after cooking and therefore will not keep for a long time. We suggest storing this chutney in the fridge and using it within three months. If you wanted to keep the chutney for longer then you could probably go through a canning process, but we have not tried this ourselves and so cannot guarantee the results.
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