Pen and I are moving house in a few weeks. One of the benefits of this is that it is impossible, where we are at the moment, to grow anything – the possums eat everything and anything i put on the balcony. So i’m looking forward to growing a few herbs and spices again.
I’m particularly looking forward to growing chillis again. If you haven’t grown them before, they are incredibly easy. Just find a chilli variety you like – try and choose some from your local fruit shop. Then dig out the seeds and dry them for a few days on the window sill. Keep the seeds until early August, them plant them about 2cm deep into some well drained soil. Water, and within a month you should have a chilli plant. Chillis will fruit in their first season, but you’ll get a better harvest in the following year if your prune the plant down in winter. You can also create your own varieties of chilli. Just grow two plants, pick the flower off one, rub it into the flower on another plant, and that flower should produce a hybrid variety.
If you already grow a chilli plant or two, you may have noticed them going nuts at the moment. It’s chilli season and now is the prime time of the year to harvest, buy and eat chillis. I made this very easy chilli sauce the other day. If you make it, be warned; wear a face mask and sunglasses – the chilli-vinegar fumes hurt:
Home-made ‘Tobasco’ Style Chilli Sauce
1 cup fresh chillis (can use all red or all green, or combo)
1 375ml bottle good quality white vinegar (Mccormacks is good and has a drip control)
1 tablespoon salt
1 clove garlic
Bash and bruise chillis in mortar and pestle. Soak in some cold water for an hour. Drain. Blend chillis with garlic, salt and a little vinegar, as fine as possible. Soak in vinegar for 24 hours in a bowl in the fridge (keep bottle!). Using a funnel and fine sieve, strain chillis into the empty vinegar bottle, sqeezing all the juice out with back of spoon. Top up with water. Done
