Our chilli plants are producing fruit in abundance at the moment and I harvested a whole bunch more ripe ones this morning.

We have always had great success growing chillies in our garden and since we currently have a glut, I thought I would pickle some.  I cut them into slices and placed them into a bowl of cold water.  This helps to soften the bit holding in the seeds and makes them easier to remove.

I left the chillies in the bowl while I washed and dried my jars and made my pickling liquor.  I used this recipe which was quick and easy and I had most of the ingredients in the house.  The only thing I didn’t have was whole cloves but I had some pickling spice which had cloves in it so I used a teaspoon of that instead.

While the liquor was simmering, I removed the seeds from the chillies and placed them into the cold jars.  I always wear gloves when handling chillies as I have experienced the pain of touching my eyes after cutting them up sans gloves and it is not pleasant!

Ladle the hot liquor into the jars and seal.  I normally leave mine in the cupboard for a good month before using and once opened, will store in the fridge for months.  Add to anything you want to spice up a bit and they are also great as part of an antipasto platter (as long as the chillies you used weren’t too hot in the first place)

If you can’t be bothered cutting the chillies up, I have also pickled whole ones before.  Just cut the stem off and place into your clean jar so they are packed tightly (you can leave the seeds in, they go nice and soft and are super easy to scrape out when you use the chilli) and pour over your hot liquor and seal.