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21.7.12

CHILLIS

The OH has always liked vodka.
It was his regular drink of choice when I met him, though he usually drinks beer now.

When we lived in England we had a damson tree, so at Christmas we would have Damson Vodka as well and Sloe Vodka.

Now we live in a climate where chillis flourish. The plant on the left is a second generation from one we found growing wild locally - it's quite hot but not searingly so.

Tthe abundance of chillis has given the OH a new game. Poke half a dozen hot chillis into a bottle of vodka and put the bottle in the freezer for at least a month.


After a month, or longer if possible, your Chilli Vodka should be ready - the colour will have leached out of the chillis. When guests arrive, put a few shot glasses in the freezer and  after dinner, when everyone is mellow and either game to try anything or unsuspecting, produce the bottle. I like the taste and the clean chilli heat, but it has proved too much for some of our friends.





The rest of the plants on this blog are growing from a packet of mixed seeds - the long ones are Pencil Cayenne and when ripe will be fairly hot.
They have a heat measure of 
26,000 SHU.  
The small mauve ones below are NuMex Twilight, which will ripen to purple, yellow, orange and then red, when they will have an SHU of 30,000.
Next on the list we present Turtle Claw at 100,000 SHU which is just showing buds.And finally the shy little plant hiding its light under a bushel at the back. Some brave caterpillar took a nibble out of one leaf and then gave up - or possibly dropped dead. For this is the Dorset Naga, reportedly the hottest chilli in the world at ONE MILLION SHU and developed, as its name proudly shows, in Dorset, England. Whether we will have the courage even to try these is debatable but the stepson and his lady are due to arrive in September for a holiday - the chillis should just about be ripe by then. *laughs evilly*

I like a taste of heat in my stir fries, but we also have two that can be used in a salad, and they are nearly ready.  The beautiful purple one is called Tequila and will apparently ripen to red, and the other is Lipstick, recommended either for salads or for frying and eating whole.



So perhaps we should have a dinner party - Chilli con Carne and salad followed by strong black coffee and Chilli Vodka.
Applications for invitations can be left on my comments page!

6 comments:

  1. Damson vodka sounds delicious. not so sure about chilli vodka, though.

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  2. Rob - don't knock it till you've tried it! Buy a quarter bottle and stick in two dried chillis from the supermarket. If you leave it in the freezer till Christmas it will be excellent. Must be drunk ice-cold. Buy two bottles and make damson vodka as well!

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  3. I only like my Vodka with coke :-) The chilli sounds far too hot for my tastes!

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  4. I'm going to try making the chilli vodka for my brother - reckon he'd love it.

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  5. Good luck with it, Patsy. Dry the chillis first - if they're fresh they can go mouldy in the bottle, which would be an awful waste of vodka, even thought you only need to use the cheap stuff.

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