Chutney Mary

You might have guessed that Little Miss Sixpence likes her food. And what better way to prepare for autumn than with a fabulous apple chutney? English apples are coming into season and therefore cheap at the moment - so here's an easy chutney recipe to try at home.

LMS top tip number 1: just make sure it's a good day outside because you'll be smelling the food for a while.

LMS tip 2: Bottle this in mini jam jars, label it and give as personal autumn / christmas pressies.

LMS loves: How the sticky, sugary, fruity mixture turns from raw stuff to a beautiful chutney in a couple of hours.

Bit vague but:

3lbs apples, cored and quartered roughly
1/2lb dark brown sugar
1lb onion, peeled and halved
1/2 litre brown malt vinegar (like the stuff you find in fish and chip shops)

Add all ingredients into a large heavy bottomed pan and simmer down for about 3 hours until you have a sticky goo with not much liquid when you push the back of a spoon with it. Then it's ready to pot into clean jam jars.

This definitely gets better with age - you can leave it for months to mature - enjoy with white cheeses like cheshire and Wensleydale, in sandwiches and especially good on cheese and toast in winter.