This Chutney Is All in The Family

This Chutney Is All in The Family

Spicy Plum Chutney goes well with just about anything.

By David Augenblick

In a famous exchange from the 1967 film “The Graduate,” Dustin Hoffman’s character was told by a family friend, “Plastics….There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?”

Something else to think about: chutney, what Merriam Webster defines as “a thick sauce of Indian origin that that contains fruits, vinegar, sugar and spices and is used as a condiment.”

At Turner Foods based in Flint Hill, they are constantly thinking, and producing, their own scrumptious chutney. In a recent interview, company president Oliver Turner said the inspiration for the company came from his mother, Clare.

“Around 2000, (she) wanted to become a Head Start teacher,” he said. “She learned that this would require a college degree so she set about getting one. Studying anthropology at George Mason, she took a class on Food Ways and learned that the American South had a culture of chutney making. She wondered why most grocery stores imported English and Indian chutneys, and then one thing led to another.”

The company, founded in 2004, is now located in a renovated section of an old dress manufacturing textile plant in Flint Hill.

“We spent years producing our chutneys at regional contract packagers “co-packers” but always wanted to grow the business to the point that it justified having our own space,” Turner said. “We looked at various spots in Rappahannock County, and, thanks to the support from family and community investors, took the leap.”

Clare’s late husband, Nevill, loved the challenge and fun of building out a cannery and delighted in its three 150-gallon steam-jacketed kettles, automatic filler and labeling machine. Before he passed away in 2019, he introduced his daughter-in-law, Lindsey, to the business and taught his grand-daughter, Perry, how to wear a hair net. Turner Foods now produces six flavors of chutney under its Virginia Chutney Co. brand and has nine other employees at the Flint Hill factory.

“We also used to produce rhubarb and green tomato chutneys which were good but not that popular,” Oliver Turner said. “It might sound absurd, or overly technical, but we try to be a ‘deli complement solutions provider,’ which means that we make things that pair well with cheese and charcuterie.

“To that end, we also produce fig spread, pepper jelly, honey and mustards under The Preservation Society brand and our company name is now Turner Foods. Pepper jelly and fig spread are by far our biggest sellers thanks to national distributors and food service distributors like SYSCO.”

They’ve been busy in 2021, already cooking up two tons of peaches, two tons of plums, three tons of dried figs, over five tons of mangoes and a small hill of cane sugar.

Locally, the company’s products can be found in a number of locations, including Delaplane Cellars and the Town Duck in Warrenton, The Fun Shop and Red Fox Inn in Middleburg, and the Locke Store in Millwood. They’re also available in the deli/cheese departments of Harris Teeter, Martin's, Giant, Whole Foods and Kroger.

For more information, go to: www.virginiachutney.com and www.preservationpeople.com/ www.turnerfoods.us.