Chilli Jam

I cannot believe it is only 2 days until Christmas!!  I do not feel very Christmassy at the moment, that may be because we haven't put the tree up yet *gasp*.  I promise this is not because my family are miserable, my dad is redecorating the living room and has only just laid the floor so I expect there will be one popping up within the next day.

So to get ready for the festive season I thought I would attempt to make Nigella's chilli jam.  I am a big fan of the DIY gift, preferably one that may result in me getting the best girlfriend award by giving a jar of it to my man-friends mum.  Okay maybe this was the only reason I made it.  

My godmother introduced me to this jam a few years ago at Christmas and I absolutely loved it, it goes so well with cheese and crackers.  I found some Kilner's jars in TKMaxx this week, there were three 0.5litre jars for £5.  I'm sure this might be a rip off and if you bought in bulk they would be cheaper but I, as usual, left it to the last minute to get them.  

I'm not going to lie, I had to read the sterilisation instructions about 5 times before I understood them, I'm sure it's really easy if you have done this sort of thing before but I haven't sterilised anything in my life (god help me when I have a child).  Once I figured out what the hell they were talking about it was relatively pain free, apart from taking the hot jars out of the saucepan... ouchies.  

To sterilise:

- Wash the jars and vacuum seals in hot soapy water, rinse well

- Place in large saucepan and fill with enough water to completely cover the jars (I turned mine on their sides).  Bring to the boil and leave to boil for 10 mins, cover and remove from heat until ready to use

- Place the vacuum seals in a smaller saucepan and fill with 4inches of water, bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 mins, cover with lid and remove from heat until ready to use.

The jam was also pretty simple to make, and most people know that you shouldn't cut up chillis and then touch your nose repeatedly... 

Chilli Jam

Makes about 1.5litres

- 1kg of jam sugar

- 150g long red chillis, chopped up and deseeded

- 150g red bell peppers, roughly chopped

- 600ml cider vinegar

Method

- Sterilise Jars and leave to cool

- Put the cut up chillis in a food processor and pulse, then add the peppers and pulse again until finely chopped

- Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a medium saucepan over a low heat, without stirring

- Once dissolved, add the chilli and pepper mixture to the bowl and bring to the boil for 10 minutes, do not stir*

- After 10 ( or twenty) minutes remove from the heat and allow to cool for about 40 minutes, the mixture will turn jelly-like as it cools

- After about 40 minutes, or until the red flecks have evenly dispersed throughout the mixture ladle into your jars, if you want to stir now it will be okay

- Enjoy with stilton and ritz crackers, or as Nigella suggest (and I am DEFINITELY going to try) smeared inside a bacon sandwich.**

** Nigella reccomended 10 minutes, I did this and my jam was like syrup, I reboiled it for another ten minutes and then it set properly, I think it is best to have a jam themometer (which I didn't have) so you can keep an eye on the heat.  Or you can put a small plate in the freezer and then drop a bit of the jam onto it, if it wrinkles when pushed with your finger, it is done.

***Tried and loved