Preserves: A beginner’s guide to making jams and jellies, chutneys and pickles, sauces and ketchups, syrups and alcoholic sips. Jill Nice

Vinegar

      Many vegetables such as celeriac and fennel can be used to flavour vinegar by this method and it is wonderful in mayonnaise, salad dressings and sauces.

      MAKES 3 X 500ML BOTTLES

      1 head of celery

      1.5 litres white malt vinegar

      1 tablespoon sea salt

      1 tablespoon white granulated sugar

      3 x 500g sterilised jam jars

      muslin cloth for straining

      3 x 500ml sterilised bottles

      Wash and scrub the celery thoroughly and cut it into small pieces.

      Put the vinegar, salt and sugar into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. Pack the celery into the jars and cover completely with the vinegar. Seal tightly and leave for 2 weeks to macerate.

      Strain through a muslin cloth. Bottle, seal and label.

      You can start using the finished vinegar straight away. Although it keeps well, the flavour will deteriorate after 6 months, so do use it up quickly.

      CHILLI

      There are many different varieties of chillies with varying degrees of heat, of which the best-known hot one is the Scotch Bonnet. It usually appears that the smaller they are, the hotter they are. Dorset seems to have taken over as the chilli centre of England since two enterprising young men set up a chilli farm in the Dorset countryside. Having gained a reputation for growing some of the hottest chillies ever, the farm has gone from strength to strength and the chillies it produces are used in everything from relishes to chocolates and ice cream.