Lime Leaf Jelly

This beautiful jelly is about 2 hours of work and well worth it. You can't buy these flavours in the supermarket. It makes a wonderful gift when heading to a dinner party and looks bright and vibrant on a cheese platter. The other big reason I make my own jelly now is the cost of a tiny jar of red pepper jelly at the supermarket is about $10!!! I just can't time dish out that amount of money for sugar, vinegar and pectin. Now I'm hooked on making jelly.

This is sunshine in a jar that's sweet, spicy with notes of soft lime. The soft lime comes from the limes leaves which can be found in Asian grocery stores and sometimes produce stores (like Farm Boy). I buy a few packages at once and wash and dry them thoroughly then freeze them. It's very convenient this way to grab them and throw them in soups (as you would a bay leaf) or chop them up for curry.

I use small chillies, often referred to as Thai chillies or birdseye chillies. I have my own little plant in the kitchen which grows purple nuggets of spice, I have no idea why they are purple but they are beautiful and taste the same as the red ones. I simply chop off the stem and then chop the rest finely. I use all the seeds as the heat is needed to offset the sugar in the jelly.

Lime leaves have a rib that runs from stem to tip. I cut this rib out as it can be tough.