My Chillies Won't

They seem to ripen depending on variety and position, some of mine have ripened on the Twilight plant. I took a few Hungarian Hot Wax, Ring of Fire & Habernero plants into work and they have all started to ripen on the window sill there, but the exact same sown/planted/etc plants I kept at home in my greenhouse are refusing to turn colour

 

BM, someone showed us how to store our excess chillies, we threaded them together using a needle and a piece of cotton, then we hung them up somewhere dry. Apparently they should keep till next year. We are trying this method for the first time so can't say its something we are experienced in.

 

There are many different ways of storing chillies. I've never tried anything with green chillies as all the varieties I grow seem to turn red with no problem.

Freezing them is OK but they will come out soggy. Pickling them is another way that is successful - if you like pickled chillies .

Drying them is also successful but, unless you have a drier, it can sometimes be hit and miss. The hanging up method works reasonably for the larger, longer chillies but not so well for the small or very thick skinned chillies.

Storing in oil is not recommended as they can still produce fungus whilst in the oil. Having said that, we do a combination by soaking some of our small chillies in a little vinegar for 24 hrs, draining them and then putting them in pure coconut oil and storing the jars in the fridge. They last a year with no trouble at all.

We grow mainly small, very hot, chillies but have a number of other varieties. Apart from chillies being an acquired taste I find that different varieties have different flavours. I'm not keen on the slightly musty flavour of Scotch Bonnet and some varieties of Naga but love the fresh flavour of varieties like Bird's Eye and Tabasco.

I get good success drying our small chillies on kitchen paper and they can last for years. I don't think this way would be successful for large chillies.

This is last week's crop from our two four-year-old plants (sadly, the third plant died this year) which have been cropping (not this heavily) for a few months. The plants are kept in a cold greenhouse from April until the cold weather and brought into the house for the winter.



I spread them out more thinly than in the picture - this lot are spread out on twice as much paper. The ones on the top left piece of paper were picked six days before the others and are already turning darker and drying. You need to keep an eye on them and remove any that look as though they may be going soft instead of drying. I normally find that about 5% will not look right and I use them straight away.

 

Hi BM,

In a warm but not damp position is best. I just leave ours on the kitchen worktop near the cooker. I haven't tried an airing cupboard because we don't have one :D