chilli jelly recipe

Apart from having a pure, beautiful colour, this savoury jelly is delicious on barbecued corn, with any meat or fish, or with bread and cheese.

makes 4 x 450g jars

• 2kg Bramley or crab apples, unpeeled
• 175ml cider vinegar
• about 900g granulated sugar
• 6 jalapeño or medium-hot chillies, 3 red, 3 green, sliced into rings, deseeded if you want less heat

Place a saucer in the fridge, ready for when you come to test setting point later on.

Roughly chop the apples, core and all, and place in a large, heavy-based, stainless-steel pan with enough water to cover. Bring slowly to the boil. Cover and simmer until the apples are soft (about 20 minutes). Add the cider vinegar and boil for 5 minutes.

Strain overnight through a jelly bag or muslin into a large glass or china bowl. Don't be tempted to squeeze the bag as this will make the jelly cloudy.

Measure the juice (2kg apples will yield about 1 litre of juice), and for every 570ml, weigh out 450g sugar. Pour the juice into a large, heavy-based, stainless-steel pan and add the sugar. Stir over a gentle heat to dissolve the sugar completely.

Add the chillies, then raise the heat and boil vigorously for about 15 minutes. Pull the pan off the heat and test for setting point. Take the saucer from the fridge and place a teaspoonful of the juice on it. When cool, it should wrinkle when you push it with your finger. You could also use a jam thermometer here; when it reaches 104-105°C, the mixture will set.

Leave to stand for at least 20 minutes, then stir once more to ensure the chillies are distributed evenly through it. Taste to check it's spicy enough - you can add a few more chillies at this stage, but remember that it will get hotter during storage.

Pour the jelly into dry, warm, sterilised jars (you can sterilise them in a very hot dishwasher, or boil them in a pan of water for 10 minutes). Cover each jay with a wax disc, then seal and label with the date. Unopened, the jelly keeps for at least a year. Once open, store in the fridge and eat within a couple of weeks.

This recipe appears on p321 of Sarah's Food for Friends and Family Cookbook.