I’m not exaggerating when I say that everyone I have ever given a jar of my chilli jam to has said it is the best they have ever had – I now have to operate a friends and family waiting list each year so I can make sure I make enough! It is pretty much the only reason I grow chillies in the greenhouse, and I think I can confidently say I’m good enough at it now to pass on my secrets, so you can make it at home too!

In terms of what makes it so special, the main ‘secret’ is that I just use a lot of actual chillies, and a blend of different heats! This year I’ve had a lot of hotscotch and cayenne peppers. Most commercial chilli jams are actually mainly sweet pepper, so I’ve tweaked the ingredients slightly to get to the right level of spice.

After trial and error over the years, I’ve worked out that the best set of ingredients to make 6 jars is 200g of chilli, 100g of red sweet pepper, 1kg of jam sugar and 500ml of apple cider vinegar.

1. Sterilize your jars and leave to cool – you can do this by washing them well and then drying in an oven. Pop a small plate in the freezer (trust me, you’ll need it later!)
2. Cut the chillies and peppers and either put in a blender or a food processor until then are very finely chopped (it might look a bit frothy at this point!)
3. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.
4. Scrape the pepper mixture out of the blender and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave boiling for 10 minutes. (Careful, because the liquid sugar is HOT). At this point, take your plate out of the freezer and do the ‘crinkle test’ – drop a few drops of your jam mixture onto the cold plate. Once it has cooled, give it a poke! If it crinkles, it is ready, if not, it will need to boil a bit more.
5. Once ready, take the pan off the heat and allow it cool. It will get thicker as it cools.
6. Ladle into your jars and seal!

I then designed my labels on my Cricut machine, but only because I really like crafting – this step is optional!

Let me know if you try it!

Helen x