Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Grow Your Own Spices and Herbs => Topic started by: merlin11 on August 22, 2008, 09:32 AM
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would anyone know the best weay to keep my chillies ?. the plant is fully laden and i cant use them all. i have given some away of course but i hate to think of them going bad because i cant keep up . im sure there must be a way to store them for future use. any help would be appreciated. thank you. :)
merlin
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would anyone know the best weay to keep my chillies ?. the plant is fully laden and i cant use them all. i have given some away of course but i hate to think of them going bad because i cant keep up . im sure there must be a way to store them for future use. any help would be appreciated. thank you. :)
merlin
Hi Merlin
Pickle your chiles in cider vinegar. Make slits lengthwise down each chile and stuff into clean sterilised jar. Stand overnight in vinegar to get rid of air. Expel all air in the jar by topping up with vinegar, seal and store jars upside down. Should keep for months.
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Slice chiles in half lengthwise, and dry in airing cupboard on wire rack. When dry, blend in liquidiser to make your own chile powder. WARNING - If blending hot chiles (habeneros etc ..) make sure you have your doors and windows open and lots of ventilation!
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For cooking - freeze them. They will go mushy when defrosted but still maintain the original flavour and hotness.
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Use chiles to make relish or pickles. If done correctly using sterilised equipment, will last for many months. Store jars upside down.
SnS :)
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thank you SnS
i will freeze some and also try to dry some. with the windows open of course .lol
merlin
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dried mine for 6 hours in fan assisted oven @ 50?C
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Hi
Did you wash them first to remove any wild yeast ect. Or straight into the oven?
Regards
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For cooking - freeze them. They will go mushy when defrosted but still maintain the original flavour and hotness.
I don't find they go mushy at all! Limp perhaps, but never mushy. I always freeze mine. I use them whole in North Indian Chilli / garlic chicken and jalfrezi - seem to work almost as well as fresh.
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For cooking - freeze them. They will go mushy when defrosted but still maintain the original flavour and hotness.
I don't find they go mushy at all! Limp perhaps, but never mushy. I always freeze mine. I use them whole in North Indian Chilli / garlic chicken and jalfrezi - seem to work almost as well as fresh.
I never have that problem either but then I never let them fully defrost. It's a quick rinse under the cold tap and then straight into the curry.
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commis - yep - washed 'em 1st - then into oven - a site i looked at said 5 hours - but some of the 'fatter' ones were still needing a bit more drying - so did it for 6 hours and all ok.
tasted brilliantly when used to gee up a tikka massalla sauce ex M&S for a chicken dish
- even the missus had to concede it tasted ok
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I never have that problem either but then I never let them fully defrost. It's a quick rinse under the cold tap and then straight into the curry.
Same! I chop the base off whilst frozen then twirl them in my fingers under a cold tap to remove the seeds.
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I finely chop my chillies and put them into a small plastic container and freeze them, so that when i am making a dish all you need to do is use a knife and scrape out the amount you need for the dish and put the container back in the freezer.
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Hi All
Just a little tip when freezing chillies, lay them out on a tray, not touching each other and freeze over night (24 hours) once frozen can be put into a freezer bag or plastic container and as already stated run under cold tap for 30 seconds or so then ready for use, mine have never gone mushy.
All the best
Stephen
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Just a little tip when freezing chillies, lay them out on a tray, not touching each other and freeze over night (24 hours) once frozen can be put into a freezer bag
Hi Stephen
I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. I just put the whole bunch of chillis in a freezer bag and freeze. They separate quite easily.
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still using my dried chillies from last year to spice up dishes - excellent stuff - just take a couple of the hard dried chillies and crush them between my fingers and sprinkle into dish while finishing off cooking - seeds an' all.
Problem is I tend to forget what I've just done with my fingers - and go for a pee !!!!!!! Ain't half hot !
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Just bumping this topic if anyone is interested,
My son bought me a food dehydrator for Christmas, which turned out really useful as I had about half a bucket of red chillis to be picked.
they are quite cheap, and consist of several trays that sit on top of each other and a gentle stream of hot air gets blown up from the bottom for a few hours. You can also do banana chips and other trendy snacks. They are quite cheap, around twenty quid or so.
I now have enough dried chilli to last me for a couple of years, I reckon. I pop some in the spice mix and grind them, or just give them a quick whizz with a stick blender to make chilli flakes.
(http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv144/BribieG/dehydrator.jpg)
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Just a little tip when freezing chillies, lay them out on a tray, not touching each other and freeze over night (24 hours) once frozen can be put into a freezer bag
Hi Stephen
I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. I just put the whole bunch of chillis in a freezer bag and freeze. They separate quite easily.
Yep - same here.
Never had a problem.
Just bumping this topic if anyone is interested,
My son bought me a food dehydrator for Christmas, which turned out really useful as I had about half a bucket of red chillis to be picked.
they are quite cheap, and consist of several trays that sit on top of each other and a gentle stream of hot air gets blown up from the bottom for a few hours. You can also do banana chips and other trendy snacks. They are quite cheap, around twenty quid or so.
I now have enough dried chilli to last me for a couple of years, I reckon. I pop some in the spice mix and grind them, or just give them a quick whizz with a stick blender to make chilli flakes.
Genius! One of my daughters has recently got into the (surprisingly tasty) world of raw food, and has just bought a dehydrator. Hadn't thought of using it for drying chillis, but I can now quite clearly see a strong mental image of me doing that very thing.
Thanks for the tip!
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Slice chiles in half lengthwise, and dry in airing cupboard on wire rack.
Hi all,
I don't have an airing cupboard but have experimented with drying chillis on silver foil in the car (in full sun) and also in a cheap plastic propagator. Providing there is sun, it takes about a week for them to thoroughly dry out.