"Clare Turner, an Englishwoman who grew up in East Africa, has merged her country’s chutney wisdom with Southern recipes. The results are full of fruits, instead of gooey syrups. For the Christmas bird, there’s cranberry chutney; for everything else, sweet peach chutney or hot peach chutney, 10-ounce jar $6.95 (Dec. 17)."
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"I love chutney, and use it as a shortcut ingredient in many things, including salad dressings and as a spread on sandwiches. (Think turkey). As an accompaniment to cheese, you can't go wrong. Try the Spicy Plum, whose spice comes from caramelized onions and ginger. It's great with Brie or cheddar, but for totally sweet juxtaposition, go for Sweet Peach which pairs up with just about any cheese."
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"As a chutney fan with East African roots, perhaps it was inevitable that Clare Turner would eventually discover the chutney traditions of the Chesapeake region after moving to Washington, Virginia, several years ago."
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"As a chutney fan with East African roots, perhaps it was inevitable that Clare Turner would eventually discover the chutney traditions of the Chesapeake region after moving to Washington, Virginia, several years ago.
"In the South, chutney was the perfect way to preserve locally grown fruit," says her son, Oliver Turner, director of marketing for Virginia Chutney Company. "It was a great way to use fruit that had fallen from the tree and was slightly bruised or touched, but still good."
Clare considered the sweet, tangy condiment an everyday staple, a comfort food. When she found an old chutney recipe by the famous Southern cook Edna Lewis, she began to experiment and the Virginia Chutney Company was born.
Today, the four-year-old company is still making chutney in the traditional Southern way, slow cooking the fruit with sugar, spices and vinegar. "We don't use any additives like corn syrup or pectin," says Oliver. At first the company used only locally grown fruit, but as sales have doubled each year, they were forced to branch out. "We try to use as much local produce as we can, particularly for seasonal products, like our Green Tomato Chutney," he says.
The company's six staple chutneys are spicy plum, cranberry, hot peach, sweet peach, mango and rhubarb. This August, they plan on having a "chutney fest" to help gather fruit for their green tomato chutney. "People will be able to see the process from start to finish," Oliver says.
Virginia Chutney is available at many specialty markets, in the cheese section at Whole Foods stores, and online at the company's website."
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