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DELICIOUS "Brindisa....is packed from the minute Borough opens ...with foodies intent on tracking down Iberian goodies, from paprika-hot chorizos and...sugared olive wafers to the sweetest blanched almonds and pimientos padron."

Autumn season at Brindisa Borough Market

21st of September marks the change of a season. Here are some of the autumnal products coming to our shores.

PIQUILLO PEPPERS from Navarra

Packed by hand, only in their own juices.

Piquillo peppers have an intense flavour, which is initially sweet and then develops into a warm, spicy finish with a light, smoky taste.

Hand-picked from each plant to ensure they are sweet, firm and ready for preserving.

During roasting, each pepper loses some 60 percent of its weight in liquid, leaving the flesh with its intensity of flavour

Once cooled, the skin is flaked off and the seeds removed before the peppers are packed into cans or jars, where they exude their natural juices.

During roasting, each pepper loses some 60 percent of its weight in liquid, leaving the intensely flavoured flesh

ORGANIC CHESTNUTS from Huelva

Brindisa sell packs of 500g organic chestnuts, peeled and cooked ready to use in stews, salads or soups.

RECIPE: CHESTNUTS AND CHORIZO SOUP

4 tablespoons olive oil

120, mild cooking chorizo, cut into 1cm cubes

1 large Spanish onion, diced

1 ½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 medium carrot

2 tomatoes, fresh or tinned, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 small dried red chillies, crushed

1 celery stick, thinly sliced

500g cooked peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped

20 saffron threads infused in 3-4 tablespoon boiling water

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 litre water, sea salt and black pepper

Serves 4

In a large saucepan heat the oil over a medium heat.

Add the onion, carrot, celery, chorizo and a pinch of salt and fry for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until everything caramelises and turns quite brown. This gives the soup the wonderful rich colour and taste.

Now add the garlic, cumin, thyme and chilli and cook for 1 more minute, followed by the tomato and, after 2 minutes, the chestnuts.

Give everything a good stir, and add the saffron-infused liquid, and the water, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and smash by hand (with a potato masher) until almost smooth but still with a little bit of texture.

Season with salt and pepper.

HONEYS from Lleida

Honey is a very typical Mediterranean product and Spain is very a privileged producer as its diverse climate and flora offer beekeepers a unique environmental advantage over other European countries. The bees can collect a range of first class raw material, nectar, brought on by copious sunshine, virtually all year round. From the vast mountain wilderness or deep in the remote rural countryside, even from the extensive orange groves of the coast, the bees can forage on an individual blossom type for the duration of its flowering season. The honey is extracted; the screens and hives are cleaned, and then moved to the next location and blossom type

We source our honeys from Alemany, whose honeys are extracted cold without pasteurisation. This means that all their natural properties and qualities are intact. Bee honey is an excellent source of energy.