Fig Chutney

This is the perfect recipe to use unripe figs combined with ripe figs. Ensure you cook them for long enough to soften.

100g light brown soft sugar

100ml apple cider vinegar

50ml balsamic vinegar

300g chopped fresh figs

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 onion, finely chopped

2 sprigs of thyme

1 tsp flaky sea salt

Put all the ingredients in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer for 1 hour, stir the pan occasionally to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. 

Once the mixture has become sticky and jam-like, remove from the heat and place into sterilised jars with the lids tightly closed. 

Turn the jars upside down and leave for 48 hours. 

Guindado

This year with a little more time on our hands we searched across the estancia and harvested an abundance of wild cherries. With the time to make something special we set about making “Guindado”, using a recipe which has been passed down in the Begg family for generations. Guindado is a liquor of sour cherries, sugar and a liquor (typically brandy but we use a locally sourced gin).

500ml gin

600g cherries 

4 tbsp caster sugar

Stone your cherries and pack them into the jar.

Add the sugar and stir well. 

Pour in the gin and seal the jar.

Shake well and put away in a cool dark cupboard for about 2 months.

Shake the jar occasionally.

Pour through a sieve lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth/muslin or paper towels to remove the cherries. 

Maga beginning the task of de-stoning the cherries.