Full question
I made the Gooseberry Chutney recipe from the 'Kitchen' book. It's been simmering for an hour and a half, although the liquid is well reduced it's not thickening at all. The gooseberries have all turned to mush and all I can taste is vinegar and red chillies now. So disappointing as this was the first harvest of my own homegrown gooseberries. Also it's made much less than the suggested quantity. 350ml vinegar seemed like a lot of liquid for 500g of fruit.
Our answer
Nigella's Gooseberry Chutney (from KITCHEN) is made with gooseberries and (apple) cider vinegar. The mixture is simmered until the liquid has reduced and the gooseberries have popped. Gooseberries are naturally high in pectin so the mixture should thicken a little, though not as much as a jam.
If possible, use under-ripe gooseberries as these will be higher in pectin than very ripe ones and also will be a little less juicy. Also try to make chutney in a fairly wide saucepan as this will speed up the rate at which the liquid evaporates and reduce the overall cooking time. If the chutney is cooked for too long then the pectin will be less effective at thickening and very long cooking can affect the flavour of the chutney.
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