Fig chutney

 Chutney is not commonly available in France. You can occasionally find something in the foreign foods parts of the supermarket and sometimes Branston pickle pops up on the shelves.

Earlier in the year I passed through Paris, so I hunted down one of the sad little Marks and Spencer Food Stores - sad because many of their fresh staples are no longer available because of brexit and supply issues - but while there I bought some crumpets, some tea-cakes and some chutney. Subsequent examination of the label of the chutney revealed that it’s main ingredient is sugar. I was somewhat disappointed.

Thankfully chutney is not difficult to make, so I have found a couple of recipes that I like - one for an easy tangy Apple chutney. Cooking apples are almost unknown here, so I use Granny Smiths. Also cherry tomatoes were cheap at Lidl, so I made some very gloopy tomato chutney.

Saturday’s wedding was at the Mairie at Messac in the Charente-Maritime. We trundled down the lovely narrow roads to find the village where nobody lives - everyone lives in farms and little houses dotted around - and parked alongside the church. Then we saw that everyone else was parked on the opposite side of the church where the mairie was situated. The Mairie is one medium sized room and one small room with a gravel driveway outside and a big fig tree, laden with figs.

Mrs Davey and I are both very fond of figs, so we began hunting down the riper fruit. « Oh, you want figs? » said one lady, and went to get a carrier bag from her car. So we came home with a couple of pounds of figs.

An internet search found recipes for fig chutney. One recipe was unspiced but rather salty. The other has much less salt but adds some spices. Neither has much sugar.

So with our apple, tomato and fig chutney, we’re probably set up for a couple of months.