FLOWER POT KITCHEN: HABANERO CHILLI JELLY

13 Sept 2013

HABANERO CHILLI JELLY

With this home grown bounty the only thing I want to make is gorgeous hot hot hot sweet habanero chilli jelly jam sauce for adding that extra zing to my food.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups of chillies, (mild, medium or hot) per

1 lb of granulated sugar-

per 1 lb of chilli liquid strained

EQUIPMENT

(not necessary, substitute with a fine sieve or muslin cloth)

Jelly strainer and stand

Jam thermometer

old jam jars

FIRST MAKE THE CHILLI LIQUID

Place all the chillies in a deep saucepan with three pints of water, bring to a simmer and cook for approx 30 minutes, with a potato masher breakdown all the chillies into the liquid. Leave to cool down then place all the liquid in to your jelly bag strainer or muslin or sieve, let all the liquid collect into a bowl. Once all the liquid has drained, using the back of a ladle push down on the pulp left over in the jelly bag to extract any last drops of deliciousness. Take a couple, or more, tablespoons of the chilli pulp and seeds and add to your chilli liquid and return to a deep thick base jam pan or like me I use my pressure cooker saucepan.

Bring the chilli jam up to 105 degrees on your jam thermometer and boil at this level for a few minutes, then take off the heat and leave to cool slightly while you sterilise your jars.

To sterilise you jars wash and dry then pop in the oven for 5 minutes or so, using a jam funnel pour your hot jelly into your warm jars, place on the lids and as the jars and jelly cool you will hear the satisfying pings of the air tight seal setting itself, this you can check by pushing the centre of the jar lids if they pop up and down then the jar is not sealed.

No comments:

LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.