Tired pineapple? Turn it into pineapple chutney!

I picked up a pineapple in the supermarket discount aisle, took it back to my kitchen and didn’t do anything with it. The leaves on the top began to turn brown and a couple of fruit flies were sniffing around. Food waste? I think not. PINEAPPLE ACTION STATIONS.

My pineapple chutney recipe is great for using up a dusty old fruit. It’s an Nigella recipe from ages ago, which I have given a frugal, slow cooker makeover. Chutney is perfect for the slow cooker: pile in the ingredients and leave the slow cooker on a low setting overnight. The fruit is soft anyway; as it becomes hot and sticky, the spices slowly infuse.

However if you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this the Nigella way: break the cinnamon stick into little pieces and cook the ingredients over a medium heat for 1 hour 45 minutes.

(If you don’t have a slow cooker and want one, check out my guide to the best budget slow cookers.)

Why I like this recipe: it’s quick and easy. If you have the pineapple, you’ll probably have all the other ingredients already.

The apple in the picture above is a homegrown cooking apple, from my sister-in-law’s garden. We started out with a bag of these; I am keeping them in the fridge and they are lasting forever.

Finally, I gotta tell you: pineapple chutney is a great recipe for (whispers) Christmas. Make it now and it will keep, if you are a stickler about sterilising your jam jars and sealing the tops. Pineapple chutney goes beautifully with cold turkey cuts.

I like to eat pineapple chutney with cheese though, as a chutneyed-up nod to that classic British buffet dish of yore…

PINEAPPLE CHUTNEY RECIPE

Ingredients

1. Peel, core and chop the pineapple into 1 cm chunks. This is the most difficult part of this recipe (ha).
2. Peel, core and chop the cooking apple.
3. Throw everything into the slow cooker. Give it a stir. Leave it overnight, on the low setting.

I kid you not, that is it. I don’t even add any water (although you might consider doing so, if using a fresher and crunchier pineapple). You’ll come down in the morning to a sweet and spicy-smelling kitchen – and a pot of delicious pineapple chutney, ready to be decanted. The recipe produces enough chutney to fill two regular-sized jam jars.