What's Cooking? Watermelon Chutney!

Wow, two food-related posts in a row - I'm on a roll!

At last week's CSA haul, I came away with a very heavy bag laden with one red watermelon, one yellow watermelon, and one cantaloupe.  That's a lot of melon!  Considering that neither of my children will eat cantaloupe, and my son won't eat any type of melon, I knew I needed to find a recipe that used a lot of watermelon and had a decent shelf life.  I've heard a lot of people talk about watermelon pickles, but I wasn't really in the mood for pickling.

It's Melon Mania around here!

As I pondered what to do with these melons, I remembered hearing an NPR segment, Cook Your Cupboard, with Nigella Lawson.  She says of chutneys:

"It's a very good way of using up whatever produce you get that's inexpensive and in season. Cook it up with some chopped onions, brown sugar (or white is fine, too), cider vinegar and some apples (the pectin qualities of apples means that whatever you use tends to set). You can put it in jars, and it can last up to a year."

Maybe that's common knowledge, but to me it was a revelation.  I wasn't exposed to foods like chutney until I was an adult, so the thought that it was easy to make at home was incredible.

Having decided that my two watermelons fit the bill for "inexpensive and in season" produce, I looked for a watermelon chutney recipe online.  I found this one from the National Watermelon Promotion Board (who knew such an organization existed?!?)

The recipe, created by Chef Joe Poon, is as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups watermelon, juiced

2 cups watermelon (white part), diced small

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 onion medium, white and sliced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground

1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 lemon juiced

2 tablespoons currants

2 tablespoons roasted walnuts

Instructions

Reduce watermelon juice over medium heat to 2 cups. Combine all ingredients, and simmer until almost dry. Chill and serve.

Servings

Makes 1 pint.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not a stickler to the rules.  Do you remember that line in Pirates of the Caribbean where Capt. Jack Sparrow (my second-favorite Capt. Jack) says the Pirates' Code is really more like a set of guidelines?  Yeah, that's how I feel about recipes.

Here are my edits, additions, and omissions:

Watermelon juice - 2 c. yellow watermelon juice, 2 c. red watermelon juice

Oddly enough, the above do not mix to make orange.  Color wheel fail!

I doubled up on the garlic, because garlic makes almost anything better.
I omitted the mace, because WTF is that anyway?  Apparently, it's not this:

The ginger and cloves were eyeballed, and I added some allspice (maybe 1/2 tsp?) because hey, why not?

I was out of both currants and walnuts - I don't like walnuts anyway -  so I substituted raisins and pecans.

Here it is without the watermelon chunks.  The brown sugar made it really dark.

I added the watermelon chunks in at the very end so they wouldn't get too mushy. 

The red watermelon seems sweeter, but the yellow watermelon is firmer.

All in all, it took me about 3 hours start-to-finish and yielded 1-1/2 pints.  Once the jars were cool enough, I moved them to the fridge.  I plan on using the 1/2 pint tomorrow - I'll be sure to let you know how it turned out!

Watermelon Chutney Recipe created by Chef Joe Poon for the National Watermelon Promotion Board Ingredients 4 cups watermelon, juiced 2 cups watermelon (white part), diced small 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 onion medium, white and sliced 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1/2 teaspoon mace 1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1 lemon juiced 2 tablespoons currants 2 tablespoons roasted walnuts Instructions Reduce watermelon juice over medium heat to 2 cups. Combine all ingredients, and simmer until almost dry. Chill and serve. Servings Makes 1 pint.

- See more at: http://www.watermelon.org/recipes/Watermelon-Chutney-156.aspx#sthash.qlA6KPWJ.dpuf