{"id":792,"date":"2020-11-18T14:14:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/?p=792"},"modified":"2021-05-19T15:17:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T15:17:20","slug":"lockdown-france-v2-pickled-chillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/lockdown-france-v2-pickled-chillies\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown France V2 – Pickled Chillies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are now into the third week of the second lockdown in France.  This time things are a lot freer than they were with the first lockdown and life in the McArthur household is pretty much unchanged.  The two youngest are still going to college and lyc\u00e9e, and it\u2019s very much business as usual for our business Kingdom Vegetal<\/a>.  The landscaping is at it\u2019s peak with the tree planting season now in full swing and the garden centre is open for collections of orders by appointment.  Although we can’t accept bookings in our gites<\/a>, my freelance work is as busy as ever and I still never seem to have enough time to do everything\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only difference really is that we have to fill out a special form (Attestation de Deplacement derogatoire<\/a>) giving a valid reason for being out of the home.  We can\u2019t visit friends, shop for anything other than food and we can\u2019t go out unless we have a valid reason (authorised work that can\u2019t be carried out at a distance, food shopping, medical appointments, school runs and exercise within 1km of the house being the main ones). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our eldest son is home for the lockdown (or confinement as we call in in France) as is our middle son who\u2019s university studies are currently online.  Second eldest is still in Montpellier as his partner is still able to work, so just the six of us at home for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fruits of our Labour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in March\/April of this year during the first widespread lockdown in France, we took the opportunity to get our veggie plot going \u2013 you can read about it here<\/a>.  Loads of seeds were sown and seedlings planted.  Now, in France\u2019s second lockdown, we are reaping the benefits of our labour.  We have (literally) tons of pumpkin \u201cLongue de Nice\u201d, bottle gourds, chayotes <\/a>and a multitude of chillies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily we all love pumpkin because I think we\u2019ll be eating it daily for the rest of the year.  We have a number of delicious recipes we\u2019ve devloped over the years, which I\u2019ll share with you over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week we\u2019ve been pickling some of the huge crop of chillies we harvested this year.  Here\u2019s the recipe \u2013 it\u2019s a delicious way to preserve chillies and is ideal for adding to cooking, sandwiches \u2013 pretty much anything really that needs a bit of spice.  It\u2019s a very easy recipe I’ve adapted to our taste:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of our Lemon drop chillies ready for pickling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pickled chillies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chillies
Vinegar (I used white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar)
Cardamon pods (2 or 3 per jar)
Pepper corns
Fennel seeds
Star anise
Mixed spice
Chopped garlic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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