Sweet Peppers for Chilli Jam

Our answer

Nigella's Chilli Jam recipe (from Christmas and on the Nigella website) uses a combination of chillies and regular sweet red bell peppers. The bell peppers are to give the jam an attractive colour and appearance. Neither the chillies or bell peppers contain any pectin and consequently do not help with the setting of the jam. The jam sets thanks to the pectin in the special jam sugar (or from the pectin you add in powdered form if jam sugar is not available).

When raw, Romano peppers have a slightly stronger flavour than bell peppers but when cooked they are very simliar. So we believe that it is fine to use Romano peppers instead of bell peppers in the Chilli Jam and you should use the same quantity in weight (150g/5 ounces).