[CH] Chilies in Oil
Jim Weller (jweller@ssimicro.com)
Fri, 16 Nov 2001 16:52:05 -0700
> From: "jocelyn berg" <dygurkem@hotmail.com> Subject: [CH] hot oil?
> When you wanna make a gift for someone by putting oil, peppers,
> garlic, etc in a bottle, do you have to cook the peppers in the oil
> first or can you pick them from your plant and just drop them into the
> pot??? (I'm using orange habaneros here)
The peppers should be dried first and the garlic skipped. Botulism can
grow in vegetables stored in oil as the oil provides the anaerobic
environment and the vegetables provide the necessary moisture. The
exceptions to this would be low PH (acidic) vegetables and products
stored at low temps (botulism can't grow below 40 F). Commercially
produced garlic in oil uses garlic treated with ascorbic acid to lower
the PH to safe levels. So stick to dried (but not cooked) chilies and be
safe. If you do garlic or fresh peppers in oil for _yourself_ keep it
refrigerated, make sure your frig is at 40 F or lower and use up within
two weeks. The same goes for fresh herbs too; dry them first before
infusing in oil.
Fresh chilies, garlic and herbs can safely be used to flavour vinegars
though due to the low PH of vinegar.
> p.s. Just had my first home grown peppers ever, and I can't eat them
> because I can't take the heat (orange habs).... gonna use them somehow
> anyway....
You could dry them, grind them and blend them with milder peppers. I
like a mixture of:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp to 1 tb paprika
6 home grown, dried, ground cayennes
1 dried, ground chipotle
1 to 2 home grown, dried, ground habaneros
A nice, not too hot, all purpose blend. The four kinds of peppers
together give a rounder, fuller taste than any single one.
Jim in Yellowknife, surrounded by snow and dead chile plants