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After sowing chilli pepper seeds yesterday, I decided to find out when I was supposed to do that. Yes, it should have been the other way around hahaha.

I found this very nice web site, all about chilli peppers. Now I have a new use for the old heating pad too On the lowest setting with a newspaper inbetween the propagator and the pad, the temperature is just right for germination.

For the chilli lovers among us, take a peek.

http://www.g6csy.net/chile/index.html

Good stuff!

For UK growing, I especially like

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.j.wood/index.html#home = Tim

Nice one Tim. I especially like the photo gallery.

Last year I did not grow chillies, they didn't germinate and I still had plenty flakes and sauce left from the year before so I didn't bother resowing.

Now I wonder. After reading some of the recepies for chillie sauce they said it would keep for several days to several months. I am still using my simple chillie paste (blanched chillies, in an electric chopper with vinagre, salt and a little sugar, some also with garlic) from the year before last. Stored in the fridge it still looks, smells and tastes good. Is there any chance that it may not be good anymore to eat since it is so old?

Great websites Tim & Ina.  I'm trying a few different varieties of chillis this year and wasnt too sure when to sow them, so should find the right info here.

Thanks
Piglet.  :)

Ina - haven't a clue - but, in general, nothing will improve with age - except wine, pickles and men!! = Tim

........and you should know Tim!

What about cheese? I like my man and my cheese aged and I got both, how lucky can one get?

Cheese - you mean until it drips from the top shelf to the bottom?? = Tim

Oh YUM Tim, got some camembert in me fridge doing just that! The kids are complaining about the smell whever the refridgerator door is opened.....mmmmmmmmmm:-)   DP

Aaaah - allt gouda (spelling?) and Limburger (sp?).  Happy memories - but never seen them here in yorkshire.  Worth a trip someday!

All best - Gavin

As a confirmed chillioholic, I have found this thread captivating (and educational), and am getting very excited about growing this year's crops!
I still have an ice cream container full in the freezer - I am the only one in our house who will go near them!

Do you not find that the chillies lose a lot of their heat and flavour when stored in a freezer?  If not, tell me your secret!  Please?

All best - Gavin

How do you use hot peppers Eric? If you are the only one in the fam that likes them, I guess they are not much used in cooking. They do have a lot of recepies on that site I posted on top, not only in cooking but also lots of other ways.  I only use them in cooking and once the food is on my plate I add some to my portion since my partner likes his less hot than I do.

I can honestly say Gavin, that my frozen chillies are SERIOUSLY hot! The habanero ones are mind blowing, I added two (acorn size) to a mild curry I was preparing, and struggled to eat it. When harvesting, I just pick and freeze, no messing, hope this helps. Perhaps it depends on the type of chillies . . .

freezing chillis is something I have never thought of doing.  I dry them and leave whole to crumble into dishes as and when, and I have put them in olive oil, preserving the chilli and flavouring the oil.  I shall definately try freezing them this year.  ;D

I like a large helping of very mild ones - Jalapeno are my hottest - so that I can enjoy the flavour without losing consciousness!

But, like Ina, a few chopped green ones on top do add something.  = Tim

PS Don't forget to make your chilli sherry - indispensable.

How funny Tim, we make sherry peppers too! It is a traditional accompaniment with black rum, on fish chowder where me hubby comes from!! He also uses it to spice up my chilli & rice!  DP

The ones I don't make into paste or sauce or used fresh, I string up and dry. Then I cut the tops off and roll them between my hands upside down to get rid of most of the seeds. They go into one of those electric chopping things to turn them into flakes. I keep the flakes in a jar in my spice rack so they are always handy to shake some into dishes while cooking.

.............and Chilli sherry is  ???

Hot chillis steeped in sherry EJ!!  Good stuff in soup ! Dp

kinda figured that...but I hate sherry.  Could make a sherry trifle interesting....teeheeeheee how my evil mind works....  :o Now, steeping them in vodka like Nigella to give a bloody mary a kick is a good one.  :o