From Balcony Garden Harvest To Homemade Chili Jam

Merry Christmas

First of all, I hope you all have had a lovely Christmas. If you’re anything like me, you have probably had a few days of over-indulging and have put on a few pounds. This post will assist you in adding on a few more as I am going to share with you the recipe I used to make a Chilli & Ginger Jam. It goes with pretty much everything or so I have been telling myself since making it!

Balcony Garden Harvest

I am using left over ingredients from my most recent balcony garden harvest. In the video below, some of you requested in the comments to see more of how I use the food I grow on my garden. Check out the video below to see an update on the garden after the temperatures dropped to -4 and to see the full extent of my balcony garden harvest.

Homemade Chilli Jam

Ingredients:

• 8 Chilli Peppers (Deseeded if you don’t want the spice)

• 100g Red Pepper (1 Large Red Bell Pepper)

• 1kg Jam Sugar*

• 100g Tomatoes

• 80g Freshly Peeled Ginger

• 600ml Apple Cider Vinegar

*I had to travel out to one of the larger supermarkets to find the Jam sugar. However, if you have any issues finding some, please use the link below:

https://amzn.to/3jzTtyI

Jam sugar contains pectin which will make your jam Jelly like. This also helps to speed up the cooking process.

You can follow along with the method in the video below, you also get to see my spicy salmon pasta recipe made using some ingredients from my balcony harvest and a sneak peek at my Christmas Dinner at the end or continue reading below for the method.

Method:

1.     Sterilise your jam jars. You can place them in a preheated oven from 160-180 degrees or alternatively place them in a pan boiling water completely submerged for about 5-10 mins. Leave them to cool upside down on a rack.

2.     Place a plate in the freezer.

3.     Finely chop chilli’s (deseed to reduce the spice level), bell pepper and tomatoes

4.     Place your chopped ingredients into a food processor or blend them down into a paste. Leave to one side.

5.     Pour Apple cider vinegar into a pan and place on a medium heat

6.     Add Jam sugar to apple cider vinegar and let it dissolve. Do not stir

7.     Once dissolved, skim off as much fatty residue as you can.

8.     Add your chilli paste to the apple cider vinegar & sugar.

9.     Bring it to the boil and let it boil violently for about 10-15mins.

10.  Take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool down.

11.  Remove plate from the freeze and ladle some of your jam mixture on the plate. It will solidify within 60 secs. Check to see how it solidifies and give it a taste check.

12.  Once your jam mixture is cool enough to handle, ladle your mixture into the jars. You can turn the jars upside down if need be to ensure an even distribution of seeds throughout the jar.

13.  Leave to set for 24 hours

In the video above I served my jam in a grilled cheese sandwich and also as a side to my Christmas dinner. It is simply delicious. To think that some our own small space gardens can be so productive is simply outstanding.

If you have any great ways to use your chilli jam, please share below. I am dying to find new ways to enjoy it!

Enjoy the rest of Christmas and I’ll be back with some more content in the new year.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Jason, Chad, Beyonce & The Rest of The Pond Gang x