hot under the collar

[Albert]

I've got a little chilli plant with quite a few chillies on it and thought i would try one, nearly melted my tounge, will they increase or decrease in hot taste as they mature or turn red??

[bigpepperplant]

i think the redder they are the hotter they are so better get picking...

[Albert]

thanks for that was going to let them all go red, would have got a shock.

[Chantal]

If you freeze them they seem to get even hotter.

[vicki]

Chantal, whats the best way to freeze them please?

[sandersj89]

Not wanting to steal Chantal's thunder, but we simply freeze whole on an open tray then bag up.

They defrost in minutes when you need them.

Jerry

[vicki]

Cheers Jerry! That sounds easy enough - even I can manage that!!

[Tony Hague]

They will seem hotter after freezing because you've ruptured the cell walls letting the hot stuff out to hit your mouth immediately. I made a mistake like this making carrot, apricot and habanero soup ("The Habanero Cookbook", Dave DeWitt & Nancy Gerlach). I could hardly eat it .. but it was good.

When defrosted, the chillies are very soft. With thin walled chillies, I like to dry them. I find that a few days on a bit of kitchen roll on top of a radiator does the trick nicely.

[Garlic_Guy]

Two points that may help:

1) If you fry chillis for a bit before adding the other ingredients, that can help reduce a bit of the heat. However it's often the case that a hot chilli stays hot!

When frying, you may need to put the extractor fan on (the fumes can be choking!).


2) I just bag chillis straight up for freezing, not bothering with putting on trays beforehand.

When taking them out to use, I find they're quite easy to chop up whilst still frozen. This can also help reduce the amount of chilli juice that gets onto your fingers too.

[fen not fen]

1) use surgical gloves when handling, that way you CAN rub your eyes, nose, etc without dire consequences

2) if you eat a chilli that is too hot, drink milk, it calms things down much faster than water

[peter]

1) use surgical gloves when handling, that way you CAN rub your eyes, nose, etc without dire consequences

2) if you eat a chilli that is too hot, drink milk, it calms things down much faster than water

Fen, given how literal people are, you omitted the one crucial instruction for point one above.

", after taking off the glove".


More seriously be careful about overusing latex gloves, you can develop a sensitivity that tips over into rubber allergy.

[fen not fen]

good point Peter!

[Primrose]

If you like your chillis mild, can recommend Hungarian Hot Wax, which is a large chilli, but quite mild compared with some of the hotter ones. Believe it's also sometimes called Banana chilli.
They're quite large and extremely decorative to grow, turning from pale green to yellow to orange and finally to red.