Pickles, preserves and chutneys

I know this thread is ancient, but I was looking for a generic "preserves, conserves, jams, etc" and couldn't find it, so apologies, Mods.

We have lots of trees that produce tons of fruit, but by the time they're ripe they've rotted or have been half eaten by larvae of various kinds. Last year I found a Romanian recipe for a green walnuts preserve - it was absolutely to die for so I'm making it again this year. Its original name is "dulceață de nuci verzi", that apparently translates to something like "green walnut sweetness". There are various recipes, the one I followed took about 10 days in total (during 9 of which I changed the water they were soaking in), but there are quicker ones like this one https://makeitsimple.blog/2025/07/18/green-walnut-preserve-recipe/ or this one https://excitedfood.com/recipes/green-walnut-preserves , where the fruits are pre-boiled. The one I followed required the fruits to be soaked for days before being blanched and finally cooked in a sugar syrup. I added vanilla and lemon rind, but some recipes suggest also adding other spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, etc. I might do a jar of each and see.

It's very labour intensive, as the green walnuts must be peeled before soaking, and they stain like hell. They have a wonderful scent, though, that reminds me of bay leaves.

Step 1. Peel the walnuts removing all the green layer, dropping them in water (add lemon juice to keep them lighter in colour, if you like) as you go along. USE DISPOSABLE GLOVES, MORE THAN ONE LAYER, POSSIBLY, AND A SHARP KNIFE. Have I mentioned that they stain like hell?

Step 2. Rinse them well, cover them again with water (and lemon).

Step 3. Leave to soak for 24 hours, then rinse them and change the water (and lemon).

Step 4. Repeat for 8-10 days.

Step 5. Rinse them again, then blanch them for 10-15 mins. Rinse them in cold water and repeat the blanching. Blanch them three times in total.

Step 6. Prepare a sugar syrup, bring it to the boil and add the walnuts. Boil on a very low heat, mixing regularly to stop them from sticking, for at least an hour or until they syrup has thickened considerably.

Step 7. Preserve them in jars, like you would for any jam in clean, sterilised jars that have to be boiled again once filled and closed, to create a vacuum.

They're excellent right away, but if you wait at least a month to eat them, the flavours will have deepened and developed further.

Update: I made them a couple of weeks ago and put them in glass jars. Another few weeks before the flavour developes, then I'll try them. I have to say that the bit of syrup I tested to see would it set was divine. Like marrons glacés but walnuty. I ended up with about two kilos of preserve, but next year I'll double it again. Well worth the stained fingers (they're slowly returning to normal at this stage, but the stand mixer bowl will never fully recover). The preserve itself is almost tarry, you can barely see the halved walnuts through the glass, so I'll post a pic when I open the first jar.