h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've got two Scotch Bonnet Chilli Pepper plants on a south facing windowsill. They've both produced flowers, and we are keeping them well watered and fed with liquid tomato feed. Is there anything else we should be doing for them?

That seems just fine.

Hi Phord,

Should we be pinching any bits out, or is that classed as cruelty to chillies?

I guess that if you had flowers four weeks ago then you may well have fruit now. I grew a couple of jalapeno chilli plants from seed and they're still producing good hot chillies now, and that's without any special feed. I hope that you've got a good spicey recipe book to do them justice.

If your plant has no growing buds then there's no point in nipping them out, of course if you mean cut off the smaller ones to allow the larger ones more resources, do you realy want massive chilli peppers?

Hi Les,

In answer to your question, my slightly worse half has any number of things to do with chillies, and he even cooks with them as well!!

Hi Phord,

I don't really want massive chillies, but the ones that are developing seem to be getting to just about the right size, we are just waiting for them to change colour now.

In one of our local pubs the landlord Pickles chillies and the jars are left on the bar for whoever wants any.

Hi Phord,
How does he do it? Just the same way as you would pickle onions? Also, have you any tips on drying chillies?

as far as I know yup, I have three large bags of dried chillies, unfortunately they were brought back by my grandmother from one of her holidays and I don't know how you'd dry them, I also have a big bag of dried saffron which must be worth a bit.

Phord, you lucky beggar, all my grandma ever fetched me back from her foreign travels was a collection of paper knives. That saffron will be worth quite a bit, all round to your place for paella? The chillies are starting to turn red now, so I'll give you an update soon on how they've cooked, or we might just put them into a salad a la naked chef.

Freeze-dry your chillies and they'll last for ages.

I normally de-seed mine when they're fully red. Cut the chillie open lengthways and scoop the seeds out with a spoon. Then, pop them in a freezer bag and put them with the ice-cubes. This works with fresh herbs as well.

You may need to know about handling chillies safely, too.

When you chop or deseed chillies some of the stinging juice will be on your hands, even after thoroughly washing them. Don't get your hands near your eyes because it will hurt. However, if you lightly coat your hands with olive oil this will hold the juice until you're done chopping, and it will all wash off afterwards. Mind you don't slip with the knife though.

I have also found that handling them with wet hands works almost as well.

Bon appetit - L.

Thanks Les, I always wear light polyethelyne gloves when I handle chillis, and what's this about de-seeding them? We always use the seeds as well.

Red-hot momma thats' me!!!