Urban Chilli Lovers Club

[Enviro]

Looking nice

I think we figured out what the chillies are - some are carolina reaper, some are 7 pot douglahs and there is a random jalapeno thrown in. Put a small 7 pot douglah in a beef chilli last night. Oof! The pod was barely an inch long but it made the beef chilli very hot.

 

[Whagwan]

I thought I was pretty immune to heat but chopped one of those Chocolate Habaneros and stuck it in my lunch noodles last week and couldn't finish them!

 

[Numbers]

The chocolate habaneros look utterly divine Whagwan

 

[Supine]

My little beauties have started to change colour. I'm so happy - it's like they're my surrogate children or something

 

[a_chap]

Blimey.

Morrison's have this in their Great Malvern store. I bought some expecting it to be shite but it's really rather a bit on the pleasingly warm side!



Buy some while you still can. Before some three year old shoves a chunk up their nose, goes blind and it's banned.

Actually it genuinely is hot. Especially if you keep eating chunks of it - which I kept doing after I took this photo.

 

[Whagwan]

Whilst doing pulled pork for a bring-a-dish street party I thought I'd smoke some of my chilli harvest.

They were smoked over oak for a couple of hours, I was advised not to give them too long.

Still got some drying to go. Dehumidifier in the airing cupboard next step.

(Top- to-Bottom Gusto/Chocolate Habanero/Naga Red/F1 Medina)

Also tried making chilli oil. Just chopped one ChocHab or Naga into two so it would fit through the bottle neck, a clove of garlic, a sprig of rosemary a split Medina chilli pretty much as a garnish and then topped up with extra virgin olive oil. Pretty damn tasty drizzled over pizza...

.

 

[pogofish]

My lot are ripening away nicely:

 

[Whagwan]

My challenge issued today was to make a chilli sauce the missus could enjoy. Had a scan at a couple of recipes and hybridised my own so was quite pleased with this mostly improvised effort.

Honey Roasted chilli and garlic sauce.

• Made a marinade by thinning honey and brown sugar with a dash of hot water.
• De seeded and cut into wedges 16 or so chillis, these were a selection of my weaker chillies (Gusto, Medina, Big Devil) and chucked these in the marinade along with about 8 cloves peeled garlic and gave them all a big mix.
  
• Spread the chillis and garlic out over a baking sheet and then drizzled the remaining honey marinade over them. Baked at 180DegC for about 15-20 mins when the garlic has started to caramelise and the chilli flesh has started to bubble and brown.
• Whilst this is going on, combine a finely chopped red bell pepper, a yellow bell pepper and half an onion. 4 TBSP Soy. 4TBSP Honey. 350 ml Apple Cider Vinegar, 350ml Water. 2 tsp salt
• Simmer this away until all the veg is soft, adding the roasted veg when it is done.
• Either using a blender ofr an immersion blender, liquidise the shit out of it.
• Tasted at this point and added extra honey.
• Simmered down until right thickness and poured into sterlised bottles. - Made 6x 150ml sauce bottles.
  
• 
  
• It's pretty nice stuff. Quite tomatoey without containing any tomatoes. It's a definite 1/5 for heat, I had thought about putting one Naga in there just to give it a little kick but held off, it could probably have done with it and would still have only been 2/5/

And the missus likes it so that's a success!

I'm gonna repeat the recipe but with 16 of my massive chocolate habs, gonna be just a little different on the flavour/spice profile!

 

[Whagwan]

Any of you lot overwinter your plants? I was reading about cutting them right back to 5-10" and all the foliage and keeping them dormant. I'm quite tempted with the Naga and the Chocolate Habanero as they are grafted anyway so should explde when they come out of dormancy,

 

[Supine]

Not bad

Big Sun Scotch Bonnets and Habanero Burkina Yellows

 

[pogofish]

Any of you lot overwinter your plants? I was reading about cutting them right back to 5-10" and all the foliage and keeping them dormant.

I have tried it but found that it didn't make a huge difference over fresh plants. In fact new plants fruited quicker IME.

 

[pogofish]

I've been busy tonight - Sixteen jars of Pineapple, Habenero and cider chilli jam made tonight, plus a couple of big jars with added Barbados rum from the end of the pan.

Should see me through the winter, but I may do a batch of apple/Scotch Bonnet if I get hold of some more jars before the frosts do for the plants.

And to follow-on from the last post, the two plants I overwintered from last year did eventually burst-forth with an excellent crop in the last few weeks but much later than everything else, even new plants of the same type.

 

[chemn]

Left is carolina reaper (?), right is chocolate habanero (?) and other habanero (?)

 

[Chilli.s]

Any of you lot overwinter your plants? I was reading about cutting them right back to 5-10" and all the foliage and keeping them dormant. I'm quite tempted with the Naga and the Chocolate Habanero as they are grafted anyway so should explde when they come out of dormancy,

I have done that and had good results on the second year too.

 

[a_chap]

A worrying selection of condiments.

 

[friedaweed]

Finally got round to using that big fuck off bag of chillies that were in the freezer from last years crops

 

[existentialist]

I got a chilli growing kit for Christmas, so have some habanero, cayenne, and jalapeños on the go...

 

[pogofish]

The first of my overwintered chilli plants is beginning to show some new leaf buds.

 

[Epona]

I don't have anywhere to grow any, but I have been making some weapons grade hot sauces with dried chillies. Very tasty (once I have managed to regain control of my saliva).

 

[Enviro]

I planted some seeds a few days ago. They're not up yet

 

[Enviro]

A worrying selection of condiments.
View attachment 157026

Have you got the habanero tabasco? I like it a lot

 

[a_chap]

Have you got the habanero tabasco? I like it a lot

Yes, I've bought it in the past, but it's neither fish nor fowl IMO.

i.e. it's not as hot as a "proper" chilli sauce nor is it as tasty as regular Tabasco.

Speaking of regular Tabasco I opened a brand new bottle this morning and the damn thing appears to be only half full now. Must be leaking...

 

[Enviro]

Not as hot?! Lol. It's not super hot but i'm pretty sure it's hot!

I've not had a fresh tabasco in a while but isn't it a lot more vinegary than the hab one? Maybe it's just old tobasco that's like that...

 

[UnderOpenSky]

This is good if you like tobasco. I don't think it's that hot, but it's pretty cheap in Morrisons and quite nice.

 

[a_chap]

Not as hot?! Lol. It's not super hot but i'm pretty sure it's hot!

Depends on your tolerance, preference and tastes I guess. I'd rate Habanero Tabasco as "warm, not hot". Then again I've had 12 million Scoville sauce straight from the bottle and lived to tell the tale. Admittedly I couldn't tell the tale for about half an hour or so until I was sure I was going to live...

I've not had a fresh tabasco in a while but isn't it a lot more vinegary than the hab one? Maybe it's just old tobasco that's like that...

Regular Tabasco is very vinegary indeed

 

[a_chap]

This is good if you like tobasco. I don't think it's that hot, but it's pretty cheap in Morrisons and quite nice. View attachment 163861

I wish there would be mass prosecutions of misleading labelling like that.

It is fucking not "hot"

 

[Enviro]

Whilst you may be right about the Morissons stuff, i've realised that trying to have a reasonable coversation with you about chilli heat is like trying to have a willy waving contest with a porn star who stands in for horses

 

[klang]

Finally cracked the pineapple-chilli jam tonight and the wait was worth it - all the flavours, esp the garlic have settled-in nicely, the chilli itself has lost less punch than the last two jams but the pineapple/ginger/rum gives it a nice cool, then warming taste, before the chilli kicks-in.

OK, it was the underfilled jar I opened first but there ain't much left after the two of us had a good "sampling"

This inspired me to try my own. Went for Scotch Bonnet / Mango jam. Kept it simple to learn: Chillies, Mango, Lime, Ginger. Not bad results. Goes well with cheese and as a chutney substitute with Popadoms. Made 4 jars. Gave me a good basis to experiment with in the future

 

[pogofish]

Excellent - I'm looking forward to some more complex recipes next summer, although pear and pineapple have been the best so far but apple, caramelised onion and mustard seed chilli jam is what I'm working-up to.

 

[klang]

yeah, in fairness mine was a bit on the simple side and I was a tad cautious with the heat...it's not really a chilli jam, more of a mango chutney with a bit of kick underneath. The ginger is a bit unnecessary I find, it distracts a bit from the sweet / sour /hot combo and puts the expensive posh mangos in the background. I don't know what the mangos are called, I went for unusual ones in the carib shop. They looked cool and smelled the lushest of the lot. At 2.50 per Mango I want to taste the subtle flavours in the jam, but the ginger destroys it a bit. Happy enough with the results for now though.