Chillis

I have grown Caldero chillis in my greenhouse ( and 2 plants in a hanging basket outdoors ) and they are now slowly turning red, from a gorgeous yellow colour. I have been using the odd one whilst yellow and its nice and fairly mild. When red, can I store them in any way, or will I have to use them up quickly?

Thank you

Blue 0)

 

I just chuck them straight from the plant into a plastic tub in the freezer. Seems to do the trick.

Or you can pickle them. I do that at the end of the season when I've got a big glut. They'll last for ever that way. If you like spicy food they are lovely on home-made kebabs, or on pappadums to accompany a curry, or mexican burritos and tortillas, that sort of thing.

Or, of course, you can use them up by making huge pots of curries and chillis etc, then freeze that in portions.

 

Or use them to make jars of home-made salsas, chutney, sauces etc. That way you can use up your other veg gluts too - toms, courgettes etc.

Oooh you've got me in the kitchen mood now!

 

I do the same as AnrewH and freeze them, Blueroses.
Just take out what you need and use them from frozen. I find them much easier to deseed and chop when they're frozen.

 

Or leave them on the plant until dried, just used one from last year that dried like that, ohh, wash your hands WELL after cutting them & before going to the loo :o

 

Hot green chillies: just blitz them in the food processor to get it to nice ''chopped up'' size, stir in a bit of olive oil into the mixture and then freeze in containers.
The oil makes it easier spoon out or break off just the amount you want.

I do the same with fresh ginger since it is so cheap in the market.

Garlic: I have a garlic chopper and it is a bit of hard work initially but I do the whole
1 lb. of garlic like that, put it all in a clean bottle, top it up with olive oil and just keep it in the fridge. The oil will thicken up but you will not have to stand there chopping bits of garlic for a long long time.

Similarly, lemons and limes : We get something like 10 to 15 fruits for £1. I juice them and freeze them in ice cube trays. Perfect for using in curries and heavenly in a gin & tonic.
Even my Mum likes a lime cube in tonic water. It's her pretend gin& tonic.

:wink: sorry for waffling on but I thought I'd share. :D

 

Ziggy - does leaving them on the plant to dry work if you overwinter your chilli plants?

 

Thats a good question Andrew, only had them dried from outside plants. I'll leave one on the overwintered ones this year & let you know.

 

I'm going to try that garlic oil Shobhna, might chop some sundried tomatoes up with it too.

 

I just freeze the lemons and limes by putting them in a freezer bag in the freezer as they are.
For curries that call for lemon juice I just halve a lemon and put it in like that.