One of the goals I set myself this year was to try to grow some chilli peppers and preserve them in a way similar to my favourite band of pickled peppers, who will remain nameless. I could eat a jar of those peppers a week!
So this year I went for broke and grew some chillies I had been told were quite similar, Cherry Bomb. They've grown well and each plant has loads of shiny red peppers on, they're not as hot as I would have liked, you can pop a whole one in your month and not feel it too much, but they certainly look the part.
Trawling through the Internet back in June I came across Dani and her amazing blog Eco Footprints - South Africa as she had a recipe for making what I was after.
The recipe is really simple and can be found on her blog here. The pickling liquid is a mix of vinegar and sugar so it should preserve them for a long time!
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| Left to soak in salt water over night before the pickling! |
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| Four jars full, they look a little too good - I can't see them lasting long! |
I can't wait to try these out! they look just as good as the ones you buy in a shop. My only disapointment is how many peppers you need to fill a jar. To get enough for me to have them every day I'd need hundreds of plants. These four jars are ripe chillies off ten plants!
Anyone else ever used a really sweet pickle?
Dani knows her stuff. She and her husband have worked miracles on their farm out there in South Africa. I've been really impressed with their self reliance and their skills.
ReplyDeleteDo a post on garlic peppers. I like those enough to give making my own a try, though I am clueless as to how it's done.
I'll have to look up garlic peppers, don't think I've tried those! Sound good though, My wife and I are of the same opinion - you can never have too much garlic!
DeleteGlad to be of service :)
ReplyDeleteKev - you can always add some dried bird's eye chilli's / seeds to the pickling mixture to increase the heat ;)
I could but my wife like mild chillis, but if I do another batch I might have to "knock it up a notch"!
DeleteThey look good. I'm a bit of a chilli wimp, only the mildest ones for me :-)
ReplyDeleteThis would suit you then. My wife can eat these no problem and she's a bit of a wimp with them as well!
DeleteI have not yet managed to get to grips with either growing chillies or using them in cooking, even though we did manage to get quite a good harvest of green chillies, which I have either frozen or dehydrated. But I shall have a go next year with growing chillies again, but I am not sure about pickling them. You must surely have a strong stomach if you can eat them regularly!
ReplyDeleteI've found that chillis do best in small pots. Otherwise they grow too much and then never ripen. I have one chilli in a large bucket and they're miles off. The ones in small pots are all ripening like crazy!
DeleteAs for eating them, when you see peppadew peppers in the shops buy a jar, fill them with feta cheese and let me know what you think!
We are pepper aholics, whether it be sweet peppers or hot ones! I can them, dry them, have even froze them and I don't freeze a lot. I put in around 100 peppers plants every year, sounds like a lot but like you say it takes a lot. Some years they make like crazy and other years I wonder will I get enough to get us to next pepper season. Sadly this year has been one of those years!. But I think I have dried enough and canned enough to get us to next years season. I have babied those pepper plants since spring squeezing every pepper I could out of them.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd need to up it to that many peppers for us to have a good supply. Another greenhouse is needed I think! I've done well this year but they have taken some sort of effort and plants will die for no reason what so ever!
DeleteDid you see the Dragons Den programme when Levi Roots showed them his Reggae, Reggae sauce? Perhaps you could invent your own chilli peeper sauce, Kev?
ReplyDeleteSounds good! Although I'm much more of a chutney man! I dont think I've got that much rhythim! A slight akward English guy singing about his milod, mild peppers might make a few more of them say "I'm out". Could be funny though!
DeleteOhh those peppers do look so good! I love Dani's site too :)
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWould you say say these taste a little like pepperdews then?
I love those blimmin' things....£2.39 for six in the co-op (stuffed with cream cheese) and I think I'm addicted!
I am definitely going to grow me some cherry bombs next year!