Following the success of my chilli jam last year I decided to experiment a bit this year and try making traffic light chilli jam.
I more or less followed the same recipe as last time which for one batch is:
- 300g peppers (I tended to use this quantity in sweet peppers, then added 4-5 chillies depending on how hot they were).
- 600ml vinegar (I used either white wine or cider)
- 1kg jam sugar
For the red I used bellboy, sweet banana, apache and cayenne.
For the amber I used luteus (supplemented with shop bought orange peppers) and cheyenne.
For the green I used unripe versions of whatever looked greenest.
Here are the results
Taste wise, the green is definitely the mildest; I assume because the chillies haven't ripened yet so have less heat... still has a kick though.
I finally got round to trying some of my preserves over Christmas and have to say I was extremely pleased with the results...
... tomato & pepper relish really did taste as good as something you could buy in the shops - I can't wait to try it on a burger.
... pickled green tomatoes were quite sweet, I was expecting them to taste more like pickles. They are lovely with both cheese and ham.
... pumpkin chutney was a total delight, I will definitely be making more of that next year.
... pickled cucumbers, once again are just as good as the ones you can buy. I will have to put more effort into growing onions for pickling next year.
The only thing left to try is cucumber and apple chutney, hopefully I will enjoy that just as much as the others.
This was another new recipe for me and I used tomatoes that were just under ripe. This required:
2 lbs Tomatoes
1 lb Onions
1/2 tbsp Salt
1 medium Red Pepper
1/2 tbsp Mustard Seeds
4 oz White Sugar
8 fl oz White Wine Vinegar
This is what I did:
Peel and finely chop the tomatoes and onions (I didn't actually peel the tomatoes, but the recipe said to do that). Mix together in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave overnight (I left them all day rather than overnight).
Put the tomatoes and onions in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Drain well.
De-seed and finely chop the pepper. Mix with the mustard seeds, tomatoes and onions in a bowl.
In a pan, mix the sugar and vinegar, heat gently to dissolve the sugar then bring to the boil.
Add the contents of the bowl, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Decant into hot sterilised jars and seal. Store for about 4 weeks before opening.
I did try this and it tastes very nice now... I assume it gets better as it matures.
I am a huge fan of sweet chilli sauce so thought I would have a go at making some chilli jam; this version is from a Nigella recipe. The recipe called for:
150g red chillies (I used 100g)
150g red peppers (I used 200g)
1kg jam sugar
600ml cider vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
I changed the quantities of the peppers because when I was weighing out the chillies there seemed to be rather a lot of them (I used apache).
This is what I did:
Pulsed the chillies in a food processor until they were finely chopped. Added the red pepper and repeated the pulsing.
Placed the vinegar in a pan and dissolved the sugar over a low heat. This is supposed to be without stirring it, but I stirred it once or twice.
Add the pepper mixture to the pan, bring to the boil and let it boil rapidly for 10 minutes.
Take the pan of the heat and leave to cool. It will become more syrupy, then change from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly-like as it cools.
After about 40 minutes, decant into warmed, sterilised jars and seal tightly.
This can be eaten straight away and is delicious, even if a little (or very) hot. I guess the variety of chilli used will make a difference to the heat level.
This has gone down an absolute storm... even with it's blow your head off properties. I am eating it with pretty much every meal and all jars are now spoken for. I will definitely be making this again.
