Using a food processor for chutney

[swampie sue]

Help, I kind husband has just bought me a food processor to help me make my chutney, Trouble is I can't quite get the hang of cutting my apple into reasonable sized chunks, my attempts yesterday resulted in pieces of apple that were just a bit too small. I tried to do it for less time but found that I had too many big chunks mixed with the smaller ones. Please can anyone give me a few hints and tips.

Swampiesue

[dexterdoglancashire]

I always chop my apples by hand, I know it takes longer, but if you are careful you can get the size you want. I use my FP for chopping up my onions because it doesn't usually matter how big, or small you have the pieces. Hope this helps. DDL

[blackkitty]

I use the pulse function for chopping things like that. You need to be careful not to overfill the bowl, and let the food settle between each pulse. I find I can control the size quite accurately this way.

[Earthbabe]

I use my food processor mainly for "grating" and slicing. It makes the green tomato chutney so much easier to do. I can also get those very fine sticks you see in jars in french supermarkets or on the crudites tray. Looks very posh at buffets rather than sticks which I can never get the same size even when I try. It also makes a mean mayo but I still prefer to do that by hand as I can adjust things better.

[rustylady]

I was told that you should never process onions, potatoes or garlic as they don't taste right. Anyone actually tried them?

I used to use my food processor mainly for making sandwiches for the pub darts teams (brilliant for grating cheese, making egg mayo filling on pulse setting, slicing cucumbers and carrots)

I agree that preparing apples would be a bit hit and miss, I usually do mine by hand.

[dexterdoglancashire]

I find that onions chopped to a "mush" (technical term you know!) in my processor works well in whatever I'm cooking - stews, curries and the like. They still taste the same and my eyes don't water as much either! DDL

[swampie sue]

Hi everyone thanks for your advice, I have been doing all my chutneys by hand but have found it to be very tiring as I am not in good health that is why my husband bought me the food processor. I have just however chopped some beet root by hand for beetroot chutney, I think that I will use the food processor depending on what it is I am chopping. I will also see how I get on using the pulse button. If I can master that who knows what I may be able to do.

Swampie sue

[JazzDuke]

Chopping by hand will be more therapeutic. Surely time is not the issue.