Since I first made a batch of this on my narrowboat perhaps 7-8 years back, it has become a firm favourite in our family. Every year when the peppers are in season around September-October (read: on offer) I make a double batch to distribute to my family as Christmas gifts.  It goes really well with cheese / cold meat and is especially good spread on cheese on toast.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked for this recipe.

I essentially use the recipe from BBC Good Food (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8257/sweet-chilli-jam) but with the following changes/suggestions:

• The peppers don’t have to be all red, it’s fine to throw a few yellow ones in too if they’re what is in the bag / on offer in the shops. I avoid green ones though as I don’t think the bitterness would work.
• As with most things, I tend to err slightly on the generous side with the garlic and ginger.
• I use normal canned chopped tomatoes.  I have made it with canned cherry tomatoes but they’re more expensive and don’t appear to make a difference to the finished product.
• It always takes far longer than the recipe states (1-2 hours) bubbling away to reach setting point.  Allow plenty of time.
• Adjust the number of chillies depending on the strength.  This year I used home grown cayenne chillies which were far hotter than the usual standard red chillies from the supermarket so I used a couple less.
• It keeps for far longer than the 3 months they suggest unopened if you have sterilised the jars properly.