Chilli Sauce

I polished off the last of the chilli jam that Mama made me and was going to put it on my list of things to get next time I went home, when I realised that I should make some myself - given the umpteen chillies lying around my house.

As the chillies were picked a little while ago and had started to dry out, I chopped them up and put them in a saucepan with some water. As this began to create steam, I began to wonder if I was actually making a bio-weapon! My eyes were burning and I was coughing so hard I thought I would spew or burst a lung.

Hmm... maybe it's not a great idea to only grow super hot chillies after all...

After airing out the house, contemplating a gas mask and leaving the chilli liquid to settle for a day or two, I reluctantly re-attempted the sauce. This time, with a little more success.

I blended up the chillies with a wiz-stick, removed just about all the seeds, which were floating, and brought the chillies back up to a very gentle simmer. I then added white vinegar, sea salt, a few garlic cloves and 3 or 4 or 5 cups of sugar.

I simmered this for quite a while then poured it into sterilised jars.

Yum. What started as virtually poison turned out to be rather delicious.