By Jessica Wiant -- Daily Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, Va. — On Independence Day two years ago, shards of broken glass and a spicy, sticky, rust-colored substance coated a road in Front Royal, backing up traffic and causing quite a stir.

Nevill Turner was making a delivery and lost the contents of his pickup in a crash.

He was fine, but as his wife, Clare Turner, recalls, the people who were blocked from getting on their way weren't too happy.

"People were saying, 'What's this crap?'" she recalls in a thick, English accent. And her husband answered matter-of-factly with his, she says, "It's chutney. Rhubarb chutney."

For those passing through Front Royal that day, if they didn't already know what chutney was, they probably found out, thanks to Turner, who with his wife and son, Oliver Turner, founded The Virginia Chutney Co. in 2004.

So, what is it?

Ask the Turners, and they'll give you "Chutney 101" — and much more.

"We're absolutely intense with it," Mrs. Turner says.

For starters, it's not jelly or jam, like many people mistake it for, she says.

Secondly, if you think you've never eaten chutney, you're probably wrong. Ever had ketchup? Or McDonald's sweet and sour sauce on chicken nuggets? Then you've had chutney, says Oliver Turner.

Chutney can take on many forms, but it's basically some combination of fruit, vinegar and sugar, he says.

Chutney originally got its start in India during the 15th century, according to the Turners. In that country, chutney is usually a spicy, sour, salsa-like condiment that's fresh, not cooked, and served with curry dishes, Oliver Turner says.

English, Caribbean and American versions, however, are cooked, he says.

At the end of the growing season, people would cook chutney with leftover fruit as a means of preserving it, according to Nevill Turner.

That's where the Turners got the inspiration for their recipes.

Mrs. Turner, 60, and her husband, 72, both come from English families. While Mrs. Turner actually grew up in East Africa, her husband was raised in England. But for both of them, chutney was a staple.

"It was always in the pantry," Mrs. Turner says.

In fact, an aunt of the family, Kathleen Turner, actually included recipes for tomato and marrow chutneys in an English cookbook she wrote in 1932.

As adults, Nevill and Clare Turner both worked in the Caribbean, and that's where they met, and, as they like to say, "made a family and mango and pineapple chutneys."

The Caribbean, Nevill Turner explains, is another "chutney hot spot."

Chutneys, be they traditional Major Grey's mango chutneys or even Caribbean banana or pineapple chutneys, reflect the culture they're made in, Mrs. Turner explains, as do the foods they're eaten on.

"It really is a global thing," she says.

On any given day, the Turners can probably be found in the kitchen of their cabin, just off Main Street in Washington, Va., eating a lunch of chutney and cheese on a table crowded with Mason jars of test recipes.

"As a business, we've been making it for about five years," Oliver Turner, 31, says, "but we've been eating it for a long, long time, too."

So, after years of making and eating chutney in Virginia, the Turners decided to start a family business. Mrs. Turner found herself taking a class in Southern food culture at George Mason University, where she learned chutney had its own tradition in the American South.

The idea clicked — especially because most jarred chutneys available in the states were imported from other countries — and The Virginia Chutney Co. was born with the intent of making jars of chutney the Southern way.

The Virginia Chutney Co. offers five varieties of jarred chutneys: rhubarb, sweet peach, hot peach, spicy plum and mango. They've strayed a little from making strictly Southern recipes.

Green apples, cider vinegar, ginger, garlic, raisins and peppers are a few of the ingredients found in each variety, but you won't find much more than that. The Turners pride themselves in the fact that there are no thickening agents, like pectin or corn syrup, and no preservatives in their recipes. The vinegar, the cooking and the jarring takes care of the preservation.

The Turners say good uses for their jarred chutneys — spicy plum is their best-seller — include pairings with many meats, both cold and hot, with the exception of beef. Their Web site, www.virginiachutney.com, offers several savory sounding recipes. A few of their suggestions include using chutney in the place of applesauce with pork, mint jelly with lamb, cranberry sauce with turkey and mustard with ham.

They also recommend using it on a ham and cheese sandwich or as a glaze on roast pork or salmon.

As Nevill Turner puts it, the chutney tastes good and it brings out the taste on everything. Well, almost everything, his wife and son both chime in.

"Everything tastes to me a damn sight nicer with chutney," the elder Turner says.

Chutneys seem to have found a home in the trend of gourmet cheeses that has swept the country, according to the Turners.

"People are so knowledgeable about cheese these days," Nevill Turner says.

Chutney, served with cheese and crackers, makes a great hors d'oeuvre.

That, paired with the popularity of the "buy local" movement, has allowed The Virginia Chutney Co. to double its sales every year it has been been in operation.

"We didn't realize it would take off as much," Mrs. Turner says.

The business' chutneys are available in several Whole Foods Market grocery stores in the specialty cheeses sections, where you can find the Turners on many weekends, wearing aprons and passing out samples from their display.

They estimate that 70 percent of their sales come from Whole Foods, but the chutneys also are available on their Web site and locally at Shenandoah Style Gourmet Food & Virginia Wine on Massanutten Street in Strasburg, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley gift shop at the museum on Amherst Street in Winchester, and at the Virginia Gift Shop in Luray.

The price online per jar is $7.50.

The Turners also encourage people to try making their own. Basically it involves slowly cooking and stirring a combination of fruit, vinegar, sugar and spices.

The Turners painstakingly come up with their own recipes and have them manufactured off site at "co-packer" professional kitchens that use local ingredients when possible.

Currently, they're working on a sixth flavor, cranberry, that they hope to have available by the fall.

Contact Jessica Wiant at jwiant@nvdaily.com