Allotments 4 All

I'm another one who will happily big up Apache!  I think Stephan was responsible for leading me astray also!!  I find some chillis have a fabulous citrus twang about them when they are still green, and are merely warming.  Then some, when fully ripe, can be incredibly sweet and savoury all at once.  I love chillis and can and will munch them whole, so long as they are not head explodingly hot!  However, HOTHOTHOT in a chilli con carne or chicken fahitas please.

And always have a glass of milk so neutralise the capsicum heat!

Interesting aside: http://ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm

My Apache was given the chop 3 weeks ago and promoted from the garden to the windowsill - it's already making a comeback.

QuoteThe vital spices are chili, black pepper, cardamom seeds, cumin, cinnamon, cloves and green cardamoms

Ginger also produces heat when used in combination with other spices. At the end of the day  it's not about heat (unless your a 19 year old lad, showing off to your mates after a few pints), it's all about flavours, proper Indian food varies from totally bland to red hot but is truly the flavours that count.

I guess I'm lucky in that Indian food beats any other for me and my bro-in-law is half Indian and has passed on many family recipes + tips, and what a superb cook he is, most of the stuff he makes you'll never see inside an Indian restaurant, I can't understand why, it's sublime ;D

Quote from: Merry Tiller on December 04, 2006, 14:25:08
I guess I'm lucky in that Indian food beats any other for me and my bro-in-law is half Indian and has passed on many family recipes + tips, and what a superb cook he is, most of the stuff he makes you'll never see inside an Indian restaurant, I can't understand why, it's sublime ;D

I think this is one of those rare occasions when I will confess to being envious ...

Appache?-now how silly of me not to have gotten a contract? A dwarf with just the right balance of heat and flavour.

It`s all a matter of personal taste really isn`t it? I quite like Joe`s Long Cayenne-great big long things that need to be ripe but once they are, to me,  are nicely warm with a bit of flavour.

I still grow the odd `super hot` Fatalie was my test this year-yellow and hot and very hardy-one plant is still alive and well in the polytunnel

My favourite this year was Espanola - large mildly hot and fruity. Gives a nice balance to some of the hotter and drier ones.

Forgot to answer the question about Indian Chillies.

Looking at Indian wholesale sites there really is an enormous variety.
Check out this site...

http://www.indianspices.com/html/s06231ch.htm

...there's more than one page if you use the 'select a chilli' and 'Go' option

India's a big place with lots of different climates and, I suspect, none of the silly regulation of seed varieties we have to endure here.

Indian food didn't use chilis at all until they were imported from the Americas by the Portugese.  Until then, black pepper was the heat giving ingredient but chilis proved easier and cheaper to grow so took over from black pepper.

Any recommendations for a mild-ish thick skinned chilli?

The classic used in Pizza toppings is Jalapeno. There are some early cropping varieties as well as the normal.   Georgia Flame, recommended by Monty Don (after I'd bought it  ;D ) is bigger and milder and quite thick skinned - not a dwarf, it needs as much space as a tomato plant to get a worthwhile crop.

QuoteThe classic used in Pizza toppings is Jalapeno

Chili on a pizza :o  don't tell Rick Stein