at home with Rosie Birkett

Our columnist shares her kitchen and home projects - this month, pickling chillies and autumnal tablescaping

- ROSIE BIRKETT

Have you ever pickled your own chilies? The act of preserving these potent little peppers through pickling or fermenting is easier than you might expect and will liven up all manner of dishes. From pastas and pizzas to roast veg salads, or the bright, moreish sweetcorn fritters (one last blast of sunshine before we surrender to the autumn) in the recipe opposite, it's a game changer in flavour terms. It's a satisfying, relatively untaxing early autumn kitchen activity to enjoy once my chilli plants have fruited around the end of September.

While pickling with a slightly sweetened vinegar brine is a delicious and uncomplicated way to preserve chillies, I favour a ferment - which transforms the fruits into something funkier and more complex, and it's actually just as easy to do. Make sure you sterilise a jar beforehand, and be patient enough to wait a few days for the friendly bacteria to do their thing and add that unmistakable tang.