Top five chutney producers

In a sarnie, with a chunk of cheese, or just straight from the jar. team lovefood loves chutney. Here are our five favourite British suppliers.

Tracklements

William Tullberg and his son Guy have been whipping up chutneys, vinaigrettes, jellies and sauces at their countryside Wiltshire base since 1970. Tracklements grind their own mustard from whole seed and spices, and they also use the best quality natural ingredients, “…all of which accounts for clean, clear, classic tastes,” according to their website.  

With every season comes a new limited edition chutney – right now we’re enjoying pumpkin chutney with orange and chilli, and pear and perry chutney – while regulars range from plum to green tomato, hot mango, and apricot and ginger chutney, each one costing around the £3.25 mark. You can see a list of all the chutneys they make here. Why not give their ‘Le Parfait’ Christmas chutney a go this year? It’s packed full of Bramley apples, cranberries, currants, and seasonal spices.

How much? Prices range from £3 - £3.55

Buy it from: Nationwide delis and online

South Devon chilli farm

The South Devon Chilli Farm was born in 2003 and has grown steadily to the point where the team now grows over 10,000 chilli plants every year. They harvest the chillies themselves, selling some whole and using the rest in their own range of chilli sauces, preserves and chilli chocolate. If you’re in the neighbourhood, it’s well worth visiting their farm and shop – nowhere else can you wander among fruiting chilli plants whilst sampling chilli wares. They’re even recommended by Jamie Oliver as a supplier of chillies: "As you know I am a Chilli freak and these guys grow the best in the country,” he once said.

We love their chilli chutney – a “traditional chutney recipe with a medium heat”, that is perfect with pasties. Sweet peppers, courgettes, onions, apples, sultanas, fresh chillies and garlic are the key ingredients. Also give their hot apple chilli jelly a go this Christmas – it’s sure to spice up the turkey.

How much? £3.57 for the chutney

Buy it from: Various stockists nationwide

Bim’s Kitchen

Bim’s Kitchen is the creation of husband and wife team James “Bim” and Nicola Adedeji. They are a small family business that produces a unique range of own-recipe African-inspired products using a variety of African spices and other ingredients. They’ve won four Great Taste Awards and even the Prince of Wales approves – he took a couple of Bim’s Kitchen sauces home when he went to the Ideal Home Show in 2012.

Their hot sauce is legendary, but we find it far easier to handle their ‘no chilli heat’ Baobab pepper jam (a combination of the African “super-fruit” baobab with sweet yellow pepper, alligator pepper and other exotic peppercorn) or their African chilli coconut relish – a lovely blend of real coconut, red chilli, alligator pepper, tomato, lemon juice and other spices. 

How much? £9.90 for two jars of jam; £9.58 for two jars of relish

Buy it from: Amazon. Minimum two jars per purchase.

The Hampshire Chutney Co.

A lot of the fruit and vegetables used by The Hampshire Chutney Co. are grown locally; to be precise, within half a mile of where they make it. Local gardeners also donate their fruit and veg in exchange for finished products, and they even cook in small batches to ensure each and every jar and bottle is of the highest quality. Artificial preservatives, colourings or additives are out of the question, too.

Chutney flavours range from caramelised carrot to ‘cheeky chutney’ (a best seller, given its warming combination of prunes, dates, apricots and allspice), mango, orange and apricot, ‘chilliriffic’, ‘piccachilli’ (a hot alternative to a sweet piccalilli) and Bramley apple.

How much? £3.45 for a jar

Buy it from: Online only

Hawkshead Relish

The Hawkshead Relish Company is a small family run business based in the Lake District. Mark and Maria started making relishes, chutneys and preserves to serve alongside the dishes in their busy village centre café. But when the Foot & Mouth epidemic of 2001 hit the region, they were forced to diversify and make more of their delicious chutneys and relishes.

Within a couple of years they had to close the cafe down to concentrate on their chutneys full time, and before long they were winning many awards and accolades for their products – including the "Speciality Producer of the Year" Great Taste Award in 2005.

Chutneys range from beetroot and horseradish to red onion with balsamic, ‘Westmorland’ chutney (a traditional dark and fruity chutney, which goes with everything from cheese to cold meats and shepherd’s pie), and fig and cinnamon chutney for Christmas.

How much? Prices range from £3.75 - £3.99

Buy it from: Online and a few stockists across the country

You might also like

Apricot and lavender jam

Carrot and almond chutney

Onion bhajis with roasted tomato chutney