There are some old plum trees in our community garden.
The plums there all ripen almost at the same time. That means: They are only available for a short time throughout the year, but in large quantities. We eat many of them fresh, some we freeze and sometimes we make a cake.

And with the remaining plums? We use this to make chutney. You can use it as a sauce for various dishes. Classically with rice and legumes. We use chutney like ketchup. By the way, these two sauces are more similar than we would think.

Photo: Julian Ackroyd. Unsplash.com

Here are the ingredients for the recipe:

  • 500 g prunes
  • 6 dried dates
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 TL turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger
  • 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 red chilli pepper or seeds, chopped

As is often the case with Indian dishes: If you don't have one of these spices, it doesn't matter. Just take what you have and experiment!

And here are the instructions for your chutney:

  • Stone the plums and cut into small pieces. Chop the dates and mix with the spices and plums. Let this mass stand for several hours so that liquid forms.
  • Then cook the mixture on a low flame for 30 minutes.
  • If you want to preserve the chutney, it is important to fill the boiling mass with sterilized jars. The chutney lasts for several months with us.

Do you like tree recipes? Here is a link for a dessert made from chestnuts.

Andrew Hunkeler
Dipl. Social and cultural anthropologist with a focus on sustainable and participatory green space design in cities. (More about the author). 
My vision is to bring together: people and trees, nature and culture, population and urban authorities.
If you have any questions, suggestions, interesting stories or exciting knowledge on this topic, please write to me: andreas@baumbad.de. I'm looking forward to your message!

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