The only really taxing part of this recipe is deseeding the chillies. Even pretty mild chillies will need deseeding when used in these quantities and concentrated as they cook down. So for my fiddly, narrow bird’s eye chillies I enlisted Lee’s help – well he will be the one doing the vast majority of the eating! A recipe like homemade sriracha, one that calls for cutting, scraping and generally fiddling with large amounts of fresh chilli, is one that I would always use gloves for. I have tried without – think days, yes DAYS, of deep, burning chilli pain, especially under the fingernails. Chilli pain where no cooling, neutralising yoghurt or crème fraîche can reach. And just when you think you’re safe, a little brush of the finger near the eye and BAM! This homemade chilli sauce is best made with a high-powered blender – if you do, there will be no need to sieve the sauce before bottling – but if you don’t, just blend it as well as you can with what you have and sieve out any bits you don’t want in your sauce. I would do this after cooking, as those bits will add flavour to your sauce. Working with such spicy chillies, I removed all of the seeds and membranes from all my chillies, but if you’re working with less spicy chillies, you may want to leave some as-is.