The Potting Shed

Guides, gift ideas and honest answers from the people who hand-pack every kit.

All articles Kintsugi Cheese making Gin making Meat Chilli sauce Wine making Kimchi Gift guides
Several small bottles of homemade chilli sauce on a rustic wooden table beside a plate of fried eggs and toast.
What to eat with homemade hot sauce: 15 ideas beyond tacos
Fifteen things to put homemade hot sauce on, which of the seven kit sauces suits which food, and how to cook with it instead of just pouring it.
Bottles of homemade hot sauce and dark spiced rum on a wooden table lit by candles beside a fire.
Halloween night in for adults: hot sauce, dark rum and a fire
A Halloween evening in that needs no costume: spiced rum started a week ahead, a range of homemade hot sauces on the table, and a fire to sit beside.
A bottle of deep red homemade sriracha-style chilli sauce beside whole garlic cloves and dried chillies on a wooden board.
Sriracha-style sauce at home: garlic, chilli and a little patience
How to make a smooth, garlicky sriracha-style chilli sauce at home: choosing chillies, getting the texture right, taming the salt and bottling it so it keeps.
A busy kitchen table on a winter afternoon with a pan of curds, bowls of dried chillies and a broken bowl waiting to be mended.
Something to do together on Boxing Day: kits for the whole family, adults at the helm
Three kitchen table projects for the flattest day of the year: cheese making with children, chilli sauces with teenagers and kintsugi for the evening.
Several bottles of homemade chilli sauce with handwritten kraft tags lined up on a wooden kitchen shelf.
How long does homemade hot sauce last? Storage and shelf life
What actually preserves a hot sauce, how long each style keeps, how to bottle and label it properly, and the signs that mean a bottle should go in the bin.
Small glass bottles of homemade red chilli sauce with kraft labels and string, waiting to be filled on a wooden table.
How to bottle hot sauce so it keeps: sterilising, filling and labelling
Sterilising, hot filling, sealing and labelling homemade hot sauce, which bottles to use, and how long a bottled batch really keeps.
Dried chillies of several varieties laid out in rows on a wooden board beside a small bowl of chilli flakes.
Chilli varieties for hot sauce: from jalapeno to habanero, which to use
What each chilli variety brings to a hot sauce, from grassy green and smoky chipotle to fiery piri piri and tropical habanero, plus how to blend them.
A saucepan of deep red chilli sauce being tasted with a small spoon beside dried chillies, a lime half and a bottle of vinegar.
Hot sauce too hot? How to tame the heat without losing the flavour
Why homemade hot sauce comes out fiercer than planned, how to rescue a batch with sweetness, acid and volume, and how to judge the heat properly next time.
Bright red chillies fermenting in a brine-filled glass jar next to bottles of finished hot sauce on a rustic wooden table.
Fermented hot sauce explained: why fermenting changes the flavour
What fermenting does to chillies, why lactic acid tastes so different from vinegar, and how fermented sauces compare with quick blended ones.
Freshly picked red and green chillies beside bottles of homemade hot sauce on a rustic wooden table.
From plant to bottle: turning your chilli harvest into hot sauce
When to pick chillies, how to dry or freeze a glut, the simple structure behind every hot sauce, and how to control the heat and bottle it properly.
The Scoville scale from mild to superhot, ranking how hot chilli peppers are
The Scoville Scale Explained: How Chilli Heat Is Measured
What the Scoville scale is, where it came from, how chilli heat is measured in Scoville units, and a mild to superhot ladder of the peppers you know.
Learning how to make hot sauce at home with dried chillies, bottles and the Chilli Sauce Making Kit
How to Make Hot Sauce at Home: A Beginner's Guide
What hot sauce is made of, the step-by-step method from dried chillies to bottled sauce, how to control the heat, common mistakes and how to store a batch.
Chilli sauce gift set alternative: a chilli sauce making kit with dried chillies, bottles and kraft labels
Chilli Sauce Gift Sets: Why a Making Kit Beats Another Box of Bottles
Why a making kit beats the usual chilli sauce gift set: seven homemade sauces at their own heat level, with labels and bragging rights on every bottle.
Chilli sauce making kit with six dried chillies, bottles of homemade hot sauce and kraft paper labels
Chilli Sauce Making Kits: Make Seven Hot Sauces in Your Own Kitchen
What's inside a chilli sauce making kit, a tour of all seven sauces, how to control the heat, and how to bottle and sterilise like a pro.

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Chilli sauce making kit with two bottles of homemade sauceFood Kits Hedgerow wine making kit with three bottles of homemade wineDrink Kits Kintsugi repair kit box with gold-repaired bowlsCraft Kits Ultimate gin making kit with two homemade pink ginsGift Kits