Happy New Year

Well no recent posts and nothing much to mention. The chillies have been cut back for overwintering and are safely ensconced on the window sills inside the house.

I've rigged up the growlight to provide a little extra light during these dark months. It does an admirable job of lighting up the chillies, along with the back garden and half the neighbourhood.

As for the Chilligrow experiment, well they seem to be coping as well as the potted chillies. I've had to cut back the watering as the continually damp soil promoted mould to form on the surface of the soil. However, the chillies need less water and nutrients during the winter anyway so I doubt it will do them harm.

I'm now lining up the chillies for the new year's growth. I'm concentrating on the superhots as they offer a better return for yield per space, despite their longer growing season. The new seeds for 2013 are:

Habanero Magnum Orange
Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah
Scotch Bonnet Red & Yellow
Dorset Naga
Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Chilli)

The seeds are now planted so fingers crossed we'll be seeing some results within a week or two.

As for the chilli sauces, well I've gone from one extreme to the other. Firstly was the Christmas Cracker, a seasonal cranberry and apple with a mild chilli hit. Is was popular at the Christmas dinner table, even with those who don't appreciate the hotter sauces.

And then there was the Hellish Relish...

Three Dorset Nagas, five Black Nagas and about two dozen Red Habaneros went into making just three bottles. The hardest part of making the sauce was the tastings. After sampling half a teaspoon of the devilish brew it required 20 minutes and a pint of milk for the burn to die sufficiently before I could taste again.

There's still two bottles left but when and where I'll find anyone brave enough to tackle them remains to be seen...

Hell's kitchen

With the wedding rapidly approaching I decided it was time to harvest the chillies and make some sauces and chutneys to give away.  Despite the meagre harvest from my own chilli collection, my culinary efforts were boosted by donations from our families' greenhouses to give me enough raw material for all the chilli goodies I had in mind

To start with, wash and top all the chillies you can get hold of...

Half a kilo of scorching Padrons went into the sauce. 

A quick blitz in the processor and then sweat down with onions and garlic 

And the finished product - a scalding, but fresh, chilli sauce named Quemalengua

Next up was the green chilli jam - 'Swamp Thing'

Oven roasted chillies for the chutney.

I named this concoction 'Forest Fire'

The results of a weekend in the kitchen.

And, of course, once the sauces were made I had to design some labels.  I've got some sticky-backed printer paper on order so once that arrives I can print out the labels and affix them to the jam jars and bottles.

Chilli Chutney

Following the success of the Friar's Hat chilli jam (unofficially dubbed 'Frisky Friar') I decided to have another go at making a chilli preserve, this time aiming for something a bit more like a chutney but with a fruity flavour.

I rooted around for ingredients and put together what I though would be a winning concoction (actually it was just what I had left in the cupboard).

1 large sweet pepper.
1 ripe mango.
4 small onions.
8 cloves of garlic.
Juice of 1 lime
500g jam sugar
500ml cider vinegar
2 tomatoes (de-seeded)
8 Thai chillies
A handful of coriander
A tablespoon of grated ginger

The expertly chopped mango (not by me I must add)

The ingredients ready for the blitzer

The fruit and veg were thrown into the food processor and given a quick blitzing. Meanwhile the sugar was dissolved in the vinegar over a low heat.

The blitzed ingredients

The mixture was thrown into the vinegar and bought to a rolling boil.  The heat was then turned down and the mixture left to simmer until the quantity had reduced by half.

After an hour of boiling vinegar the house was quite fragrant...

Finally, after being allowed to cool the mixture was ladled into sterilised jam jars.

As for flavour, it's got a mild spicy heat from the chillies and a tang of coriander.  Meanwhile the ginger adds a lovely tickle of heat at the back of the throat.  It'll be unveiled to the (selected) public this weekend at a cheese and wine party so we'll get their verdict then. With the Frisky Friar I was so keen to share the jam I ended up giving most of it away to friends and family. With only four jars of this new concoction, then it's quite a limited edition. I may have to limit my generosity to just those with the highest bribes...