Kitchen Garden Forum

Runner Bean Chutney

2lb runners – sided and very finely sliced
1½ lb onions finely chopped
½ pint vinegar – find a white is best
1 pint pickling vinegar (reserve ¼ pint to mix dry ingredients)
1½ tablespoons turmeric
1½ tablespoons cornflour
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2lb sugar – demerara is best but works just as well with ordinary white

1. Cook beans in salt water until tender – drain.
2. Boil onions in ½ pint of vinegar until soft (about 20mins)
3. Add the beans and ¾ pint of pickling vinegar and boil for 15 mins
4. Slake cornflour with reserved vinegar and add mustard and turmeric. Then add sugar and all other ingredients to the pan.
5. Boil for 10 mins.
6. Pot into warmed jars and seal. Like all chutneys, leave for at least a month before eating

Does anybody know why you should cook the beans separately?

I've got more or less the same recipe but I've always put the beans and onions together in the vinegar and it's been fine - though I always wonder if it could have been better!

And frozen beans are good too.