Get ya Chillies In!

jaycey

jaycey

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London
Anyone into growing/eating chillies?

Myself and my Manager at work (who's also a straight shaver like me) are really into our chillies.
We grow some impressive crops every year and eat every single one, including the infamous Dorset Naga, the worlds hottest chilli.

This year we are starting some from seed and have also ordered some plug plants.

On the menu this year will be...
Bengal Naga
NuMex Twighlight
Ventura Poblano
Turtle Claw
Rooster Spur

Anyway, anyone else into their Chilli's?
 
I love chillies, usually get scotch bonnet, mainly becuase my wife is Nigerian and I used to cook for her and use them alot, I use to make my own pepper sauce as well. Nigerian Pepper soup is awesome if you like chillies. Never managed to get my hands on a Dorset Naga but would like to try one, I find it's not all about the 'heat', some chillies have some great flavours.
 
Well I'm always happy to try out any samples. I can see chillies being used as currency in trades or added as little freebies with a sale of shaving goods.

Where is the 'hungry' smiley when you need it?!
 
My local Indian supermarket sells fresh naga's at 10p each...I thought about making some pepper spray with it but that's about it. Bonnets are about my limit.
 
I don't normally have much success with Chillis or any peppers, not sure why really.

As my wife won't go near a chilli it's not really a probalem as even when I do manage to grow them I never get to cook anything with them in.
 
Warm greenhouse or conservatory is a must but there's not much point if you are not going to eat them...it's one of the few plants I usually buy in plug form from the garden centre but last year I actually bought a couple of chilli plants from Sainsburys (apache) and they lasted me through the summer with constant picking.
 
If you caramalise them they are amazing, hotter is better and make for a nice hot sweet. Then you can use the syrup to cook with too which retains some heat and is sweet :D
 
We built a smoker last year and smoked a load, lovely!

I like the idea of caramelised chilli, I will give that a try.


The key to the heat as antdad says is growing them in a warm environment, last year we had a pumpkin chilli plant that produced lovely orange fruity chillies that were hotter than our Nagas.

Keep a close eye out for spider mites, we lost a couple of plants to them in the past.

Lunch today was Jacket Potato topped with Tuna and liberally sprinkled with raw SuperChilli, not one of my favourites but it satisfied my chilli craving:)
 
I must admit to being a little wimpy when it comes to chilli - I love the flavour but tend to de-seed/vein the hotter varieties to avoid the pain (IBS and capcaisin don't go particularly well together:exclamation:). I saw the apaches in B&Q last year and nearly bought a couple of plants - what are they like to grow? Is pollenation a problem if they are behind glass?
 
fatboyslimfast said:
I must admit to being a little wimpy when it comes to chilli - I love the flavour but tend to de-seed/vein the hotter varieties to avoid the pain (IBS and capcaisin don't go particularly well together:exclamation:). I saw the apaches in B&Q last year and nearly bought a couple of plants - what are they like to grow? Is pollenation a problem if they are behind glass?
Click to expand...

There are some excellent tasting mild chillies, my favourite are Pimiento de Padron. Fry them quickly in a good quality Olive Oil and sprinkle over some sea salt...delicious!

Heres a good little article for growing indoors http://www.thechilliking.com/growing/growing-chilli-peppers-guide/

We grow about half of our plants indoors in our office, theres plenty of light all day and we have taken the fuse out of the AirCon ;)

Once you have got the plants to around 4-5 inches tall they usually do well as long as you keep them warm, lots of light and small regular watering.

Everything else we do more or less as the article in the link above.
 
I bought a grafted "medina" chilli from a centre today, nice healthy 6 inch plant. Never tried it but its hot and smooth apparently, you must hand pollinate then Jaycey?
 
I have a strain that started as a single plant maybe 4 years back, Every year I keep a bunch of seeds back and replant for the next year. It's got to the point where every summer the front garden has two window boxes and three pots stuffed with plants. Neighbors know just to help themselves. No idea what they are.
 
antdad said:
I bought a grafted "medina" chilli from a centre today, nice healthy 6 inch plant. Never tried it but its hot and smooth apparently, you must hand pollinate then Jaycey?
Click to expand...


Yeah we use one of those soft make up brushes (the Missus was looking for it for ages:icon_razz: ) give them a soft brushing and their done.

Also use Tomorite feed as soon as they start flowering.
 
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