Cantaloupe & Mango Chutney with Thyme ~and Welcoming New Baby!

We are thrilled to have welcomed our new baby boy Nicolas on March 13th.  He is beautiful and perfect just like his brother Gabriel!   I haven’t written in my blog in the last month or so but that is to be expected.  First few weeks with a new baby are exciting, exhausting and filled with new hopes, and I embrace the whole of the magical ride.  These beginning moments however can include your head bopping from side to side like you were jet lagged from travel to India back and forth three times without sleep, or of dreamy eyes filled with awe and inspiration at the gaze of a precious new human being.

Being house bound with Nicolas in what we hope were the last trickles of winter,  I wanted to make something sweet, savory and simple.   As baby napped I looked around to see what ingredients I had available since we were low on provisions.  Mangoes and a cantaloupe ripening too quickly begged from the fruit basket to become something united in a pot. And dried thyme from the spice drawer would flavor my final creation.  Napping might take two hours or so and chutney takes less than that to make so I had a winner!   I chopped up the fruits and an onion and threw it in a pan with coconut sugar and apple cider to cook  down.

Many recipes for chutney call for white vinegar but I think it is too aggressive so I use apple cider vinegar instead.   As for the salt I find it better to add it at the end after you taste the chutney  I have seen some recipes call for as much as 2 teaspoons of salt for a similar quantity to mine but I don’t think it is necessary.

The coconut sugar has a deep taste and balances the tartness of the vinegar better than white sugar.

All I had were apples so I put the chutney on top and was happy as could be.  Savory, sweet, salty.  Good stuff…but not as good as my new baby boy!