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Let summer fruit show off its savory side

Recipe: Chunky chutney combines peaches, apricots and dried cranberries

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 3, 2025

Chutney is endlessly flexible. Try a mix of favorite soft fruits for a variety of savory uses. Debbie Arrington

With seven backyard fruit trees and access to more, I end up with a summer assortment of peaches, apricots, plums, pluots, nectarines and other juicy favorites.

Besides supplying the inspiration for countless desserts, those summer fruits also can be wonderful complements to savory dishes – especially when cooked into a chutney.

Originally part of Indian cuisine, chutney gets its name from the Hindi word that means “to lick” or “to eat with appetite.” Described by some as a relish made with jam ingredients, chutney combines sweet, sour and spicy into a secret sauce that elevates entrees.

Part of the beauty of chutney: Flexibility. It can be made with a wide variety of soft fruits (plus tomatoes).

For this version, I used my Babcock white peaches along with the last of the apricots (which were looking a little wrinkled). Their thin skins dissolve while cooking, so there’s no need to peel. To keep the chutney chunky, the fruit was rough chopped – further speeding up preparation.

This recipe can be scaled up or down, depending on the amount of fruit you have on hand.

Use this chutney with grilled chicken, pork or turkey burgers. It’s tasty on sandwiches, too.

Chunky chutney

Makes about 6 cups or 3 pints

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 cup chopped onion

8 cups chopped peaches and/or apricots (see note)

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup rosé or white wine

1 cup dried cranberries

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

Jar of chutney on a trivet — The finished chutney can be stored in the
refrigerator, frozen, or canned using the
hot-water-bath method.

In a large heavy pot over medium heat, melt butter or margarine. Saute chopped onions until soft.

Add chopped peaches and/or apricots. Stir in broth, orange juice, lemon juice and wine.

Rinse dried cranberries with hot water; add cranberries to pot. Stir in sugar, pepper flakes and black pepper.

Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring often, until fruit is very soft and chutney is desired consistency, about 1 hour.

Store covered in refrigerator or freeze.

This chutney also can be packed in sterile jars with hot-water bath method. Process for 10 minutes.

Note: If fruit is thin-skinned, there’s no need to peel. Plums, pluots, nectarines, apriums and other similar fruit may be substituted for peaches and apricots.

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Garden checklist for week of May 17

With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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