What to do with chillis?

[HappyDiggers]

More by luck than intention I have ended up with 5 chilli plants bearing glossy green fruit. I've tried one and they're deliciously hot. The question I have now is "what can I do with them?".

I know they can be dried, but what's the best way to do that? I know they can be pickled too, or preserved in other ways, but how?

You see how prepared I am for this unexpected crop!

Any advice would be welcome as would be any suggestions as to where I can get further information: books, websites etc.

Yours in mulch
Pete

[T8Ter]

Hi Happy, try this thread, I made a combination of the evil chilli and two sheds tomato and chilli chutney, it turned out great, made 25 jars, they'll make good Xmas presents.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ipe_23199.html

[Reb Williams]

If you want to dry them, you need to wait until they are red (which will happen eventually). Then thread a needle and push it through the cap/stalk thing at the top. Put as many as you like on one thread... it's a question of how many you can fit in your airing cupboard. Then hang them up, and wait till they are dry - this will depend on the heat in the cupboard but usually takes 1 or 2 months.
If this sounds like too much effort, simply freeze them - you can do this while they are still green - stick 'em in a plastic bag and take them out as you need them. In fact, they are much easier to chop from frozen.
Hope this helps. Make lots of lovely chilli.

Reb
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[The Nichols']

Of course, you could always get some not expensive oil and put a load of still whole, halved and seeds from your chillis to make some lovely chilli oil to cook with.

[Mrs Jackson]

If you're going to make chilli oil make sure you follow a proper recipe for it as there's a bit of a botulism risk if it's not done properly.

Mrs J

[HayleyB]

I'm freezing all mine whole...

[uulwyn]

I have a PRAIRE FIRE plant, and all the chillies are a pale yellow, although some are going proper yellow now. Should i bring this plant into the house now, or leave it outside, and which chillies do i eat, is it the bright yellow ones(sorry if its a stupid question)

[Mrs Jackson]

Prairie Fire chillies go red when ripe, you can eat them when they're still yellow but IMO they're better when they're red. You coud bring the plant indoors now if you wanted to or you can leave it outside until there's a risk of frost.

Mrs J

[voddybabe]

i have treaded mine and th OH is sick of them as i have them hung everywhere!!
But its is working treat and they changed all different colour, very pretty x

[uulwyn]

Prairie Fire chillies go red when ripe, you can eat them when they're still yellow but IMO they're better when they're red. You coud bring the plant indoors now if you wanted to or you can leave it outside until there's a risk of frost.

Mrs J

Thanks for the advice, question though my chillies are pale yellow with some going bright yellow, how do i make them go red, or is it a matter of time?

[OllieMartin]

Was just talking to my dear ol' mum on the phone, and she reminded me about our familiy's recipe for Pele-Pele-Ho-Ho.
It's a recipe that my Grandfather brought back from Africa where "Pele Pele Ho Ho" is swahili for "Chili Chili Hot Hot"!

And it's rediculously easy to make. Just fill a bottle 1/3rd full of chillies (we usually use bird's eye chillies, or some other short variety, but any type will do). An old Worchestershire Sauce bottle is good because you can use the dripper to distribute the sauce. Then fill the bottle up with cheap sherry. The sherry becomes very hot with the chillies, and can be used in anything such as soups, stir fries, frankly anything you'd ordinarily put tobasco on.

Will definately be making a bottle of my own this year.

[HotStuff]

Ollie, that sounds really good, I'll have to try that.

Happy, another thing you could try is chilli vinegar, just take some chillies and prick some holes in them with a pin and throw them in a bottle of white wine vinegar, then leave for a few weeks. Great for making spicy salad dressings.

For something more potent you can do the same thing but with a bottle of Vodka, great straight from the freezer

Do you know what variety your plants are?

Oh, and welcome to the vine.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Chilli Jam - on its own or with something like chilli and elderflower or chilli and crab apple, use them in much the same way you would a pickle with cold meats or like you would cranberry with hot meats.

Salsa is another good one but it doesn;t keep.

Chilli and chocolate go very well together get some covature chocolate and make you own sweets some with chilli but you can make allsorts of choccy delights. Also adding it to a cooking chocolate you can make a chilli and chocolate pouring sauce which is absolutley devine eaten poured over steak instead of pepper sauce!

[stupot]

I brought a food dehydatror for £28 from Westfalia.

Food Dehydrator from Westfalia at our Curing food inside the Household shop

I've now dried 100s of Thai Dragon chilis in it. The dried chilis are in a jar and I crunch one into cooking when I want some heat instead of adding chilli powder. Note - ONE. The Thai Dragon chilis are ridiclously hot even for a curry fan like me!

It takes around 8 hours to fully dry the chilis. It only has an on/off switch so I've plugged it into a time switch and leave it running when I head off to work.

Very chuffed with it, and I'm not clogging up the airing cupboard for once

[Snadger]

I brought a food dehydatror for £28 from Westfalia.

Food Dehydrator from Westfalia at our Curing food inside the Household shop

I've now dried 100s of Thai Dragon chilis in it. The dried chilis are in a jar and I crunch one into cooking when I want some heat instead of adding chilli powder. Note - ONE. The Thai Dragon chilis are ridiclously hot even for a curry fan like me!

It takes around 8 hours to fully dry the chilis. It only has an on/off switch so I've plugged it into a time switch and leave it running when I head off to work.

Very chuffed with it, and I'm not clogging up the airing cupboard for once

I've got one of these but haven't tried drying my jalapeno's with it!