It is so nice to see the fruits of your labor but sometimes even better to bite into them!

My citrus trees are finally starting to bare their fruit, and yesterday I was able to pick my first naartjies, navel oranges and lemons for the year - just in time for winter as they always are, who would have figured that nature would give us high quantities of natural vit C just when our bodies needs it most.

But that is not the only vit C produce I harvested yesterday, another great source of this amazing cold and flu fighting supplement can be found in chilies - and boy did my garden give me a nice harvest of that too.

These are the lovely Lampion chilies or lampion pepper that I picked yesterday, not only are they extremely healthy and taste great - they all so look beautiful. But seeing that there was simply too much for table use we decided to preserve some in a sweet and sour sauce.

Here is how we did it;

Recipe:

• 750 g Lampion Peppers
• 60 g coarse salt
• 600 ml water

1. Cut off the stem side of the Lampions
2. Carefully scrape out the seeds with a small teaspoon and rinse.
3. Dissolve salt in the water & add the Lampions, allow to soak overnight.

Note:
Make sure to wear gloves during this stage of the process as chilies can burn your hands when you are working with them.
When you leave the lampions in salt water place a plate over them to weigh them down and ensure that they remain submerged.

• 375 ml white grape vinegar.
• 300 ml sugar, white, granulated
• 250 ml water
• Pinch of salt

1. Prepare your pickling bottles by boiling them in water on heating them in the oven.
2. Rinse the salt water off the Lampions.
3. Mix water, sugar & vinegar in a large pot and place over low heat.
4. Continually stir till sugar is completely dissolved and then bring to a rapid boil.
5. Add the Lampions and boil for no longer than one minute.
6. scoop the lampions into your sanitized bottles then fill the bottle with the sauce and seal immediately.

And there you have a lovely condiment for table use - This stuff is so yummy - I could eat it out of the bottle, just like that!