Canning Mango Chutney – 1st Time

Two disclaimers:

1. I feel like there should be a whole post about canning while still currently in quarantine and grocery shopping is…weird at best. I’m not canning to preserve food to eat in every day life, I’m canning recipes I think are fun and tasty and plan to give away at the end of the year. But I’m not here to write that. I’m here to make notes on canning this Mango Chutney recipe.
2. I searched online to link to the specific recipe I used and not only am I coming up blank but I am coming across a lot of recipes that sound much more sophisticated and possibly better than the one I used. As I look back, I’m pretty sure I chose this recipe for it’s simplicity. (Simplicity = less ingredients to chop. I already have a large number of picky, ingredient-full canning recipes that I love. I want to try some easy ones to add to my collection.) If you came here for a great Mango Chutney recipe, you might want to move on.
3. Perhaps there should also be a whole post about my canning background. If I write it one day, I will come back and link it here. But considering I am too lazy to go back and edit my “Two Disclaimers”, don’t hold your breath.

The recipe: Mango Chutney from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving:

• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 6 cups finely diced mango
• 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper

This recipe is supposed to make about 4 (1-pint/500-mL) Jars

First off, I did not follow this recipe to the letter. I KNOW. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW CANNING RECIPES TO THE LETTER LEST YOU END UP WITH YUMMY JARS OF DEATH.

All I can tell you is that I have over 8 years experience with canning, to the point I have one or two recipes I’ve altered enough that they are “mine”. I am confident the 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds is not the make-it-or-break-it ingredient in this recipe between a canning success and a canning failure. And I haven’t killed anyone yet. (By canning.)

So when I did not have fenugreek seeds, and then could not purchase fenugreek seeds in my monthly grocery shop, I looked up “alternative to fenugreek seeds” and added an extra 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds as a substitution.

Again, I chose this recipe for it’s simplicity. You have to skin and chop the mango, juice some limes, and grate some ginger. Everything else is measuring out of a container.

Here was my experience today:

The recipe suggests 4-5 “large” mangoes will make 6 diced cups. I had 6 mangoes (I always overbuy fresh, main ingredients for canning) and that was barely enough. Maybe my mangoes weren’t “large” enough. And maybe I was too conservative in the amount of flesh I left on the pits. But IF I make it again, I will buy 7-8 mangoes. That would also allow me to choose the best/ripest ones to cut up first and leave subpar mangoes for something else.

The recipe says it will make about 4 (1-pint/500-mL) Jars. I made exactly half that. And I had to scrape the pot to make it happen. I first filled a 1-pint jar, then filled up four 4-oz jars. I had a second 1-pint jar primed and ready, as well as two 8-oz jars to make the full amount the recipe suggested but I didn’t even have a drip left to put in the fridge and test later.

That is frustrating, and one of the reasons I wanted to find the recipe online – to see if I could find comments on the yield. The fact that it was exactly half had me second guessing all my math. But nope.

My last comment is that the taste, from what I sucked off the spoon since I had none to spare, was…lackluster. That is not surprising with a canning recipe. They usually don’t taste as good fresh as after canned and let sit for 2-3 months. I have a suspicion that overall the salt/sugar amounts provide a good base for the spices. But the spices definitely need longer than the 15-minute cook time to infuse themselves with the mango.

Overall, I can see myself coming back to this recipe. It IS so easy. But I won’t decide until I can taste the finished product. I hope to take the large jar to a monthly meetup with perhaps some crackers and goat cheese. The chutney should have matured enough by the time it’s safe for us to get together again.

A fun little aside…I am so used to canning sweet jams, I first measured out 6 CUPS of sugar instead of tablespoons.(!!!) Luckily, I was pre-measuring it into its own bowl since you often are told to put the sugar in “all at once” in canning recipes. It took some finesse to get it back into the storage container and not waste any, but I made it happen.