Jalapeño Jam

This flavour-packed green chilli jam celebrates the vegetal flavour and prickly heat of jalapeño chillies.

Red chilli jam has enjoyed a long run in the sun, but its greener cousin doesn’t get much love outside of Mexican cuisine. Jalapeños offer a prickly, warm heat that builds slowly, and also boasts a deep, slightly bitter vegetal taste that counters the usual sweetness of a jam. I’d argue jalapeños are actually the best-qualified of all the chillies for jam-making. Your best bet is to go to a greengrocer or a fruit market as they will often stock crates of jalapeños - you’ll need about 200g at least. If you’re skittish about heat, you can replace some of the quantity of jalapeños in this recipe for green bell pepper - I’ll mention this in the recipe - and you could remove all of the seeds from the chillies to tame the heat too. Whichever your preference, this little jar of emeralds is sure to ignite grilled cheese sandwiches, cheeseboards and charcuterie for a long time yet. Furthermore, like most of my jam recipes, this is a small batch, giving you just a jar or two to enjoy before your tastebuds get restless. Let’s go!