How are the veggies coming along?

[sime42]

24 minutes ago, Mesterh said:

Nice, we seem to have quite a decent crop of chillies too. I think they are scotch bonnets, prairie fire cilli, maybe, and some other one which I can't remember the name of. Need to get them hung and dried before they start to rot! 

 

Has anyone had any luck in managing to keep the plenty alive over the winter? 

 

The chilli plants you mean?

 

I've tried before, indoors on window sills. Managed to keep a couple alive over winter, thinking they'd get a head start and do better than new plants the following spring. They didn't. The new plants quickly overtook them after a couple of months and produced more fruit. I think they really miss sunlight over the winter, as well as the heat. 

[Mesterh]

Yep the chillies. Thats a shame I thought well established plants would do well. Ahh well, bin them and buy new next year then.

 

[sime42]

 

 

Yeah, that was what I concluded. Though I had them in a dim unheated garage I think, maybe if they were in a bright, warm conservatory or something they'd do better. 

 

No need to buy more seeds, just use some from last year's chillies. They're always viable. Dead easy, especially if your drying them out anyway. 

 

 

[nepia]

On 04/11/2025 at 19:20, sime42 said:

Great, we can compare notes!

 

Jelly is a more accurate description, you're right. I drain the juice out through a Muslim net after stewing. They're such knarly things, you need to really.

 

 

My Muslim did a good job 🤣

The first little batch.  Boy I had to reduce it to get it to set.

Less sugar next time; it's too sweet

[sime42]

16 minutes ago, nepia said:

My Muslim did a good job 🤣

The first little batch.  Boy I had to reduce it to get it to set.

Less sugar next time; it's too sweet

 

Looking good. You did better than me. 

 

I spent hours last night boiling it, trying to get a set. I gave up in the end as it was getting too late, and hoped for the best. Came down this morning to find 10 large jars of very runny stuff. Frustrating. Not sure if Meddlars are particularly hard to get a decent set with, but my strategy of trying to make a reduced sugar jam didn't help.

 

 

[nepia]

May be worth re-boiling - and reducing - with added lemon juice and another half of a green apple.  Mine took ages to set. The recipe said 15-20mins rolling boil; it probably had 45 by the time I got the volume down sufficiently and a set.

[AHPP]

Isn’t it pectin rather than boiling and boiling that makes it set?

[sime42]

Pectin plays a big part yes. That's why pippy things like raspberries make easy setting jam. But boiling time, (level of reduction), and sugar content are also big factors. Though those last two are essentially the same thing I suppose.

 

I did add two bottles of pectin to the mix.