Posted by Debbie Dexter

We love sowing & growing chillies, cooking, jamming, chutneying (if there is such a word) and of course eating them – it is usually a game of chilli roulette but we like it hot!!

 

Last Sunday morning was spent chopping up some of our homegrown chillies, Trinidad Scorpion ‘Butch T’- the 2nd hottest in the world, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, a lovely dark chocolate colour with a fruity flavour once you get past the heat & Super Chilli, a useful all rounder with a medium to hot heat to make Chilli Jam. The fumes of the Trinidad & Chocolate Bhut were so potent we had tea towels tied around faces to prevent coughing fits & watering eyes, but we persevered and hey presto our own jars of Chilli Jam – we give these away at Christmas to equally chilli mad friends & relatives.

We follow ‘The River Cottage’ recipe with a few of our own added twists and it creates a lovely jam – the flavour, heat & colour depends on the variety and sometimes it’s a thick jam like set, sometimes runnier like a ‘Bonne Mamam’ jam but it is always delicious. It’s a great accompaniment to cheese & biscuits, makes a fruity hot sauce for a stir-fry with meat & vegetables and with Chicken tortillas – Mexican style. We have been known to swirl it in our morning porridge too (see previous Blog March 2013) – now that’s hard core!