Getting the chop

Preserving day at the cafe:  Elenor, Jane, Sam and Sarah prepare marrows, apples and onions,  plums and pears for two big pans of chutney that will be potted up at the end of the day, allowed to mature for a few weeks then offered for sale in time for mid-winter feasting. The fumes of hot vinegar and spices had noses quivering and cheeks flushing as the raw ingredients metamorphosed into a bubbling brew of sticky goo[dness].