Chilli Oil - any methods please?

[Bmac]

Hi,

I have lots of chillis and would like to make chilli oil but my previous attempts have been a disaster.

1. I used fresh chillis and the olive oil got a mould on it and the chillis grew blue beards all over.

2. I used chilli flakes, heated the olive oil and a year later there is still no chilli taste in the oil.

Both times the bottles were sterile etc, what am I doing wrong please?

Brendan

[T8Ter]

Hi B, generally when making my own oil (from hot or cold) I never leave chillies in the oil as they do break down quite quickly. If you put mince some fresh chillies and add them to a bowl of oil (I use groundnut), cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge, shake every day for about two weeks. Then strain into sterilised bottles. Even then at some point the oil will eventually start to go cloudy as the chilli that has passed into the oil breaks down, at this point discard.

[Two_Sheds]

there are old threads on this topic if you want to do a search, but basically: Simply dumping a load of fresh chillies into a bottle of oil is not a great idea as it can result in botulism (which I think you already made)

Chilli oil recipe: The Chilli King

[Victoria26]

Yeh you really need to use dried chillis, I made this mistake the first year too.

Just dry the chillis whole then poke them into the oil and hey presto.

Good luck.

[SarzWix]

We slice 2 - 3 whole chillis, put in a pan (incl seeds) with a full bottle of oil and warm it very gently for about 10 minutes. Then leave it to cool and strain it through muslin back into the bottle. And use it as quickly as possible

[Bmac]

Thank you folks,

I'm going to try again using your suggestions because I have loads of chillis (best year ever) so hopefully I'll be able to make something that will be potent but not lethal.

Brendan