It’s rhubarb time again! This week was the sweet spot for pricing so I bought 5 kgs, as last year I ran out of this delicious chutney as soon as I had made it. Friends love it! But if you don’t want 19 jars of yum, then you can simply multiply up the basic recipe as required. I used some really lovely delicious organic cider vinegar (available from Ocado) seasoned with turmeric, chilli and ginger, but ordinary cider vinegar works just as well. Thinly time-consuming thing in this recipe is chopping everything and de-seeding the cardamon, though I think you can buy it ready-to-go. Delicious not only with cheese, but also cold meats and mackerel, or simply plopped on a cracker.

Rhubarb is also delicious baked simply with ginger, star anise and lemon zest, and some honey (it definitely needs some form of sweeter, I prefer to use natural organic honey over anything else). A little water, but not much as it get too juicy. About 20 mins at 180C.

Makes 2 × 500g jars

• 200ml cider vinegar
• 400g soft light brown sugar
• 100g raisins
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• seeds from 20 cardamom pods
• 4-5 star anise
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1kg rhubarb, cut into 3cm chunks

Method

Put all the ingredients except the rhubarb into a large, heavy-based pan, bring to the boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the rhubarb and bring back to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cool slightly and spoon into dry, warm, sterilised jars (you can sterilise them in a very hot dishwasher, or boil them in a pan of water for 10 minutes). Cover with a wax disc, then seal and label with the date. This chutney can be eaten straight away.

Once opened, it is best stored in the fridge, and will keep for up to a month.

This is only a small portion of the rhubarb, everything chopped and ready to go