How many apricots can you eat before you start to get a sore belly? As it turns out, not too many!
I absolutely love stone fruit and great really excited when the first few boxes start to appear in the stores and markets in spring. Unfortunately, the flavour of these doesn’t normally warrant the exorbitant price tag attached to them, but come Christmas time the summer fruits are at their peak and there’s stone fruit and berries galore. I was recently given a large bag of apricots after I had just purchased a similar amount from the farmers market, and after going a little crazy eating (too many of!) them raw the first day, the pains coming from belly made me realise that there was no way I would get through them all raw and would need to come up with a crafty way to preserve some of them.
My mind immediately turned to an amazing spicy peach chutney which I had in a fish taco a few years ago and had been wanting to recreate at home ever since. I figured it would work the same with apricots, but I wanted to try fermenting the chutney rather than cooking it, and I had success with my first batch. I made another straight after to tweak the spice levels (the first batch didn’t have quite the kick I was after – something subtle yet still noticeable).
I’ve talked about fermenting foods and the benefits for our gut (and overall) health quite a bit previously (see here for other posts) so I won’t repeat what I’ve previously said, except to say at this time of year especially, after indulging in more sweets, processed foods and alcoholic beverages over the Christmas/New Year period, our guts could all do with a little fermented love to help balance out the good and bad bacteria and restore our gut health.
And just before I go, some exciting news – I will be holding a food photography and styling workshop here in Hobart next month with the lovely and talented Bec from ThirteenRedShoes. We’ll be discussing food photography basics, styling techniques, and demonstrating how we style and shoot a dish. There will be an emphasis on the practical component, so all participants will get to practice the various methods and techniques we discuss during the workshop. We are both very excited about this workshop – it’s something that we’ve been planning for quite some time now and we can’t wait to start sharing all our knowledge and love for food styling and photography. For more information and to purchase tickets, head over here.
- 6 - 8 fresh apricots
- 1 large Tbsp sugar (I used coconut)
- ½ tsp finely chopped fresh chilli
- ½ tsp cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 cloves
- 2 Tbsp whey, kombucha or kefir
- Wash the apricots then cut in half to remove to stone. Cut each half into quarters.
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mash slightly with a wooden spoon to release some of the liquid in the fruit. Allow to sit a few minutes more for the liquid to be drawn out a little, stirring a few times to mix the flavours and further encourage the liquid to be drawn out.
- Add to a clean jar and cover with a lid. Allow to ferment at room temperature 48 hours or so - it will depend on the temperature as to how long it takes. The chutney will be ready when some bubbles have started to appear up the side of the jar and it has a very slight sour taste - you can let it ferment longer which will increase the sourness, but I like mine with just a touch of sourness which compliments the chilli and sweetness of the chutney beautifully.
This recipe looks delicious! Stone fruit is so expensive this way isn’t it – my punnet of peaches was $7.99 the other day but I could not resist them… It was worth the splurge. I wish a) I could come to the workshop and b) I had a fancy camera to be able to do it. Ha. Good luck with it and I hope it goes really well :)
Hi Lauren! Thanks so much – I wish you could come as well :)
I miss apricots so much! So jealous right now ;) Love the idea of making a chutney out of them.
And the pictures are stunning. Especially the one with hands (yours?) in it!
Thanks Josefine, and yes those are my hands, taken with a tripod :)
Okay, this is definitely going on my summer to-make list. And these pictures are beautiful – good example of why you should be hosting a food photography workshop. Good luck with it – really wish I could join!
Thanks so much Katie – I wish you could make it too :)
This looks DELICIOUS! Do you think it would work just as well with the liquid from a ginger bug? I imagine it would, and that the spiciness of the ginger would be an added bonus. Thanks!