by Jesse Griffiths

Photography by Jody Horton

Chutney is an all-encompassing and delicious use for leftover vegetables, bumper crops, or those big bags of fruit given to you as a gift. It can be made with anything. I prefer a mix of sweet fruit, some vegetables, raisins, sugar, vinegar and spices. The technique is nothing more than cooking everything down to a paste and seasoning to your liking to achieve that nice balance between sweet, spicy and sour. I have used apples, pears, green tomatoes, overgrown zucchini, plums, onions, kumquats, peaches and sweet potatoes with varying success. The great part is that you can make it a month ahead of time—it keeps well in the fridge and gets better with age.

Published in the Fall 2007 issue of Edible Chesapeake

This recipe, adapted from the 1976 edition of Putting Food By, one of the most-often referenced guides to preserving foods, has worked beautifully for publisher Renee Brooks Catacalos and the stray pumpkins she collects from friends and family during fall. The pumpkin provides some of the color and the substance, but the citrus provides most of the flavor. Marmalade fans will love this. If you've never made jam, you might be surprised by the amount of sugar used, but don't skimp or your product won't gel properly. Also, note that it takes about two days to complete.

by Eve Chenu and Tobin McGill

Photograph by Marla Camp 

Courtesy of Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, issued by the Bureau of Home Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, May 1931.

Courtesy of Molly Wizenberg, adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook

“There’s no denying that the recipe has a lot of steps, but each of them is easy, so don’t be tempted to cut corners,” says Molly. “The process of repeatedly blanching and cooling ensures that the pickled onions are softened but still delectably crisp, as a good pickle should be.

A few picky notes about ingredients and procedure:

• Use round or flat red onions that feel firm. Do not use torpedo onions, whose layers are too thin to make for a properly crunchy pickle.
• Use a pot made of stainless steel or another nonreactive material, such as anodized aluminum.
• Use wooden spoons. Aluminum would, warns The Zuni Café Cookbook–author Judy Rodgers, turn the onions an ‘unappetizing bluish mauve.’ Nobody wants to eat a pickle that’s the same color as your grandmother’s bath towels.
• Serve them with a drizzle of good olive oil, which tames their vinegar tang with a lovely, rich finish. We like to eat them as an hors d’oeuvre, with fresh goat cheese or slices of sharp cheddar and crackers. They’re delicious with grilled meats—hamburgers, flank steak, chicken, etc.—and also, I’ll bet, with chicken liver paté.”

By Iliana de la Vega