Chutney and Relish
Chutneys, relishes, pickles - what's the difference?
There's a debate over what makes chutney, relish and pickle. Here's our take:
Chutney is a jumble of fresh and dried fruit, vegetables and spices mixed with vinegar and sugar. It's cooked very slowly and then bottled.
Relish often showcases a single vegetable. Like chutney it's made using vinegar and sugar but contains little to no dried fruit. Relish can be sweet or savoury, mild or hot, but always strong in flavour.
Pickle is something different altogether. Whole vegetables, such as onions or cucumbers, are brined and then preserved in vinegar. It has a crisp texture and tangy taste.
A note on seasonality & availability
The Crellow kitchen is truly seasonal. If it's not fresh from the orchards or fields it's generally not in our jars. We are at our busiest during late summer and early autumn, when fruit is harvested. Like the glorious 12th our season begins in mid August with the arrival of English Plums, and draws to a close around Remembrance Weekend, once the quince are ready.
We are driven by a traditional approach; preserve the seasonal glut to enjoy throughout the year. It means we sell out of things from time to time, especially in early summer before we make the next batches. A number of Crellow products are available year round, so if that's important for you or your business then look for the 'available all year' tag in the list below.
Apple & Onion Chutney
The first Crellow chutney and a good choice if you are new to traditional chutney! A simple and tasty combination of Bramley apples, onions, demerera sugar, a bit of lemon rind and juice and a few sultanas. It's fruity and chilli-free.
Excellent with hard cheeses. Try it with a good cheddar like Davidstow Cornish Crackler, in a ploughman's lunch, or with ham, bacon or cheese in a sandwich.
Available all year.
300g jars and 1.2kg Catering Pails.
Apple, Date & Ginger Chutney
A light coloured delicately flavoured chutney with a spicy ginger kick, warm ginger not hot ginger and the richness of dates. We like it with ham, pork pie and hard cheeses. A number of consumers tell us they like it on toast as a marmalade, not as sweet and easily spreadable. Goes well in toasted sandwiches!
Available all year.
300g jars and 1.2kg catering pails
Beetroot Relish
ONE STAR GREAT TASTE AWARD 2008, 2009
TWO STAR GREAT TASTE AWARD 2010
Forget all your school memories of beetroot! No strong vinegar or a crinkle cut in sight! Instead, the relish has a rich, true flavour made with locally grown beetroot, a little apple, onion, sugar and some Cornish cider vinegar. The result is a soft and chunky texture with velvety crimson colour.
Our most versatile product, try it in all sorts of settings:
- Serve alongside cold meat and cheese including chicken or smoked mackerel.
- Mix with a bit of creme fraiche and eat with smoked or roasted salmon.
- Mix in a little olive oil, some chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice as part of a middle eastern mezze platter. It's especially good withhoumous dishes or chickpea salads.
Available almost all year, might be in short supply in June & July.
300g jars and 1.2kg pails.
Chutty, Chutty, Bang, Bang
GREAT TASTE AWARD ONE STAR 2010
Chunky, crisp apples and onions, fresh red chilli for slivers of colour and ginger for a fiery bite. Named a few years ago by our eldest son, it was instantly popular and regularly earns a place in our top 10 sellers. It is excellent with strong cheddars and well-flavoured cheeses. A local publican uses it alongside a rich pork terrine whilst others recommend it with creamier goat's cheeses and Welsh Rarebit.
Available all year.
300g jars and 1.2kg catering pails.
Damsons in Distress
This Crellow product is made with Kea (pronounced key) Plums tiny, black skinned damsons found only in Cornwall. They grow in small orchards along the banks of the River Fal in Kea Parish where our children were at school.
The chutney, sharp and spiced rather than 'hot', has a pronounced plum/damson flavour and colour. It sits well with rich meats, terrines, pates, smoked duck and game pie but also with creamy cheeses such as Brie, Camenbert and non-acidic goat's cheese.ood.
Available while stocks last, usually October - June.
300g jars.
Father's Favourite Chutney
The recipe belongs to a Cornishman from Liskeard who sadly died in 2010 but was an enthusiastic preserve and chutney maker all his life. He also created the recipe for Father's Favourite Seville Marmalade. His daughter, a well-known cookery writer and historian, has carried on his tradition and is a long-standing friend of ours.
This has been our most popular product since Crellow's early days. A minced, smoother chutney it's easily spreadable, very thick and fruity and goes well with almost anything. It has a high dried mixed fruit content: dates, sultanas, raisins and preserved stem ginger, and uses all the Christmas spices and some chilli.
Many a jar and pail have accompanied this family's three young men to college and university.
Available all year.
300g jars and 1.2kg catering pails.
Hot Goddess
Hot Goddess and Chutty, Chutty, Bang, Bang are the two 'hot' products in the Crellow range. Apples, red chillies, Demerara sugar and cider vinegar give a light golden green colour with red flecks! Silky and easy to spreadable we prefer it with meat than cheese. Lovely with sausages and baked potatoes. Some (but not the Cornishman who makes it) think it's excellent with pasties and pies.
Available all year.
Available in 300g jars.
Jewel in the Crown
A fruity, sweet-ish slightly spicy chutney made using mixed dried and fresh fruits including mango, a traditional mixed fruit chutney and good all rounder for cheering up left over bits and pieces and baked potatoes, meat and potato pie or cheese on toast. For lots of years it's been the chutney maker's favourite.
Available all year.
300g jars.
Lord of the Isles Chutney
So called because it's made with Lord of the Isles apples, a rare variety grown by Cornish Orchards at Duloe in the Tamar Valley that's home to an unusual collection of local apples. Our cider vinegar is made in Duloe, too. When the season is right we use our own tomatoes to give this chutney strong local provenance.
Available all year - We might run out for a month or two.
300g jars
Old Dowerhouse Chutney/English Plum Chutney
Traditional dark plum chutney, fruity and very tasty, originally we only made this very old fashioned chutney with English Victoria Plums but in recent years we've found it harder and harder to source Victorias so have started using other varieties of English plums.
Old Dowerhouse will be made with Victorias and when we use other varieties it will be English Plum Chutney on the label, we find it almost impossible to taste the difference. It goes well with bacon, ham and pork pies we also recommend it for camembert and other rinded cheeses.
Availability: not reliable, some years could be sold out by January, will depend on Plum crop.
300g jars.
Orchard Chutney
A combination of apples, Conference pears and apricots, raisins, grated lime rind and some ginger. Always very popular with the 'chutney should be brown' school who soon realise that Crellow chutneys are different. It is versatile and tasty! Eat your heart out Branston.
As good with cheese as meats, excellent spooned into a hot well buttered baked potato and left to sink in!
Available most of the year
300g jars.
Onion Relish
2011 Award Winner
GREAT TASTE AWARD ONE STAR 2011
Shredded red and white onions stewed with mustard seeds for texture and crunch. Lime juice and rind lift the natural sweetness of the onions.
It is more oniony than onion marmalade but can be a perfect substitute. The soft caramel sweetness is excellent with cheese on toast or toasted sandwiches. We often use it as a glaze for grilling sausages and have found it to be a handy addition to making gravy and casseroles.
Available all year
300g jars and 1.2kg catering pails
Red Pepper Relish
A lovely sweet relish made with chunky, roughly cut peppers and red onions all gently stewed and softened.
Enjoy it with Spanish food like chorizos and charcuterie. It's equally at home with grilled or roasted chicken and sausages. We like it straight from the jar on nutty, malty bread with butter. Many chefs and caterers use this with cold meat platters and as a dip for crisps. It is versatile especially with summer barbecues in mind.
Available almost all year, with a slight gap in the spring.
300g jars and 1.2kg catering pails
Sweet Pickled Cucumber Slices
Those of a certain generation will know this as 'Bread & Butter Pickles'. A delighted young tester at the 2010 Cornwall Food & Drink Festival was in raptures when she found the 'exact' pickle her Gran made!
The recipe comes from an old Ministry of Food book on food preserving issued in 1940! It's a crunchy pickle brined and packed with fresh chilli for a touch of heat. Serve with cold meats and pork pies or with smoked salmon or mackerel. We would recommend it for pate too and for food with an eastern theme.
300g jars and 1.2kg pails during 2011 on request.
Tom Foolery
This lovely chutney is a recent addition which has raced to the top of the Crellow rankings! Last year it went down a storm in the Cheese Bags at The Kneehigh's Asylum.
Tom is a bright, classic summer chutney: a mixture of red tomatoes, red pepper and red onion with a good texture and a little dried fruit. Perfect for barbecues, popular with children and excellent with cheese. It replaces Rectory Relish as our 'tomato chutney'. We also use it as a 'secret ingredient' in gravies and sauces that need a dash of colour.
Available all year
300g jars and 1.2kg pails from Easter 2011
