My brother-in-law, knowing I like hot peppers, gave me a brown paper lunch sack full of them from his garden. But there’s no way I’m going to make enough jerk chicken or ridiculously hot salsa to make a dent in them before they go bad.
So how can I make the best use of them? I’m thinking I could make a hot sauce out of them. Any good recipes? How long would the hot sauce last-- it should last awhile, right? I know Tabasco is aged like 3 years before it’s even sold, so I imagine a batch of hot sauce would be good refrigerated for some time to come.
Any good ideas for a use other than hot sauce, I’m all ears. BTW, I’m pretty sure I asked a very similar question several years ago about a bountiful harvest of habaneros I had from my own garden, but I had no luck finding it.
When I found myself in a similar situation a few years back, I dried them in the oven, then powdered them. The powder stays good indefinitely, as long as you keep it dry (though I think the heat diminishes with age), and as an added bonus, your kitchen will smell amazing while you’re doing it.
To dry the peppers, puncture each of them (so moisture can escape from inside), put them on a baking sheet, and set the oven to its lowest setting for 6 or 8 hours.
A couple good ideas, thanks. Hmmm…pick a peck of pickled peppers? Maybe. But hot sauce is basically pickled peppers in liquid form, right? Come on capsaicin connoisseurs, let’s see a good hot sauce recipe or two!
Where ‘aged’ means peppers and salt are put in a barrel and left for three years. After that they strain it and add vinegar. Two year old Tabasco ain’t even close to ‘sauce’.
Thanks swampspruce, it’s been awhile since I made a nice curry, and that recipe sounds good with a reaper added. I think I have plans for our Sunday supper now.
Since no one else has mentioned it, you can also carefully clean them, roast them, and put a number of them in a bottle of a neutral spirit such as vodka. Put aside for 6 months, giving a shake every week or so. Then use anywhere you need in mixed drinks, shots, or cooking.
This bears repeating. I’ll grow Habaneros each year in my garden, and always end up with more than can stay good beyond a week or so in the fridge. So, I’ll freeze them, and they’ll be mostly fine when thawed.
I say “mostly,” because when thawed, they’ll be mushy, not crispy. But if all you plan to do is use them in salsa, chili, or similar, they’ll be fine.
Spicy chili pepper is good in hot chocolate, but I would not throw entire pods in unless it is relatively mild like an ancho. Better to use chilli powder or the alcohol infusion.
So I did make this curry for dinner yesterday. Thanks again @swampspruce!
I used one of the smaller Reaper peppers-- approximately acorn-sized. Sweet dear lord was it hot! My wife and I are both lovers of spicy food, and it was borderline what we could tolerate. My eyes were watering and my sinuses were cleared out. But I had seconds! It was painfully good.
Surprisingly, my 15 year old ate it without batting an eye, like it wasn’t spicy at all. We asked him “don’t you think that’s really hot?” and he was like “eh”. He might have been born without capsaicin receptors.
Glad to hear this! Looks like I may be putting a curry together this week! Yeah, my youngest has way more tolerance for heat than I did at his age; then again I was raised on Heinz chili sauce as being spicy and Tabasco was madness territory.
FWIW, the next time you make killer spicy Indian food, raita is your friend.
Kinda like Indian tzaziki, and really good with warm naan!
