How to preserve your chilli harvest
Chilli plants are exciting and rewarding to grow. There is such a wide range of different flavours you can get with chilli plants. Have you ever tasted the citrus burst of an Aji Lemon chilli? What about the smokiness of a Chocolate Habanero? That's right — there's more than just heat when it comes to chillies — they all taste different too! Having multiple types of chilli plants can be a great addition to your garden and kitchen. Adding the right heat and flavour profile to your dish can be easy with a variety of different chillies on your doorstep. Chilli plants grow great in pots and containers, and chillies can be expensive in the supermarket.. So why not grow your own?
The only problem is (if it is really a problem at all) — chilli plants are usually extremely high-yielding. Sure, you can add loads of chilli to each of your meals or you can give bags of them away to your friends, family, and neighbours — but what else can you do with all your fresh homegrown chillies? In our 3m by 5m garden we grow 13 different varieties of chilli, so we have come up with ways to use our chilli harvest besides adding fresh chilli to our meals. Check out the different ways you can use your chilli harvest below!
9 WAYS TO PRESERVE YOUR CHILLI HARVEST
9. Freeze your chillies
We know it sounds so obvious.. But freeze some chillies first! Chilli plants won't produce all year around, generally going dormant during the colder months. To make sure you have chilli when you need it during winter, make sure you have a variety of chilli stored in the freezer. Just remember, freezing chillies can make them lose some heat, so don't be worried if your chillies are not hitting you as hard after being frozen!
8. Dry your chillies
Dried chillies will last up to 12 months in air-tight container — another way you can enjoy chillies all year round! Chilli can be dried using traditional sun drying methods or dried in a dehydrator. Traditional chilli drying methods work best in dry-heat climates. You can lay your chillies out in a single layer on a wire rack or a drying tower in the sun (do not attempt in the rain!). Make sure the chillies have plenty of air circulation. Leave the chillies to dry in the sun all day, but bring the chillies in at night. Repeat for about a week or until the chillies are dried to your liking. You will know your chillies are dried when they snap. If your chillies bend, then keep repeating the above method until they snap. If you don't have a spare wire rack (p.s. there are some in your oven that should be removable) or a drying tower, you can tie your chillies together from their stems and hang them in the sun to dry. Perform the same steps to dry your chillies using this method.
If you are using a dehydrator, make sure you split the chillies open and give them plenty of space to maximise the efficiency of this drying method. We made the mistake of popping whole chillies in the dehydrator once... We dried our chillies for two days and they still would still bend instead of snap! We gave up and used our chillies semi-dried. If you want to store your chillies long-term make sure they are 100% dried before being placed in an air-tight container.
You can try using your oven to dehydrate your chillies, but we have never really nailed it using oven-drying methods (but we believe in you!). If you have successfully dried your chillies using your oven, please send up your tips and tricks!
Chillies going into the dehydrator with plenty of space between each slice so they can dry out properly
7. Pickled Chillies
Jalapeños are probably the most commonly pickled chilli, but you can actually pickle any chilli variety. Pickling chilli is a unique way to get a different flavour profile out of your harvest. Chillies can be pickled whole, halved, or sliced. A basic pickling brine usually consists of vinegar, sugar, and salt. You can season your pickling mix with garlic, peppercorns, bayleaves, or mustard seeds. There are really no right or wrong answers here.
Our super easy Pickled Chilli recipe will be here soon.. Stay tuned.
6. Hot sauce
Making a hot sauce is incredibly easy and can taste much better than typical store-bought hot sauce. Simply combine your chilli harvest with vinegar and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer blender contents to a pot and bring the sauce to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Pour your sauce into bottles or jars and enjoy!
This super basic hot sauce recipe is highly customisable. Try adding some garlic or lemon to your recipe. The standard ratios for this recipe are 500 grams of chillies, 3/4 cup vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. You can use your frozen chillies in this recipe, just let them defrost a little first so your hot sauce isn't watery!
5. Smoke your chillies
Okay.. we admit it. This one is a little more difficult than our other ideas. It requires specific equipment and a lot of patience. But oh man, if you are into smoking then you will absolutely love smoked chillies!
4. Zac's own Chilli Sweet recipe
No, that's not a typo! Zac's Chilli Sweet sauce is more chilli than sweet.. Made with only four ingredients, this sauce will give you that kick without all the preservative nasties. Make a big batch and preserve your sauce using standard canning methods. These can make a great gift if bottled in a little decorative jar. You can find Zac's recipe for Chilli Sweet here.
3. Ground chilli powder
An easy way to make your chillies last is to make chilli powder. You can combine a variety of chillies together for a robust chilli powder or make enough for one variety per spice bottle to experiment with dried chilli flavours. To make chilli powder, first follow the steps in idea 8 above. Then, add the dried chillies to your food processor and blend until chilli becomes a fine powder. You could also do this by hand using a mortar and pestle. Store in an air-tight jar (save your glass spice jars!) and enjoy long-term.
Dried chillies that we ground in a mortar and pestle
2. Chilli Salt
I tried chilli salt for the first time about 18 months ago and it totally blew my mind. Spicy salt? Salty heat? The combination was certainly interesting. You would be surprised at how many dishes it pairs well with (p.s. try it with your traditional Sunday roast pork!). Chilli salt is usually made with super hots but it certainly doesn't have to be.
Mix some coarse sea salt with some dried and chopped chillies. Add this blend to a salt grinder and enjoy. Alternatively, you can put fresh chillies in a food processor with salt and pulse until well combined. Then place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop in the oven to dry out.
In the first version of the chilli salt you will have a chunky salt with chilli flakes throughout it. In the second version, you will have a uniform reddish-tinged chilli salt. Try both and see which one you like best!
Our mix of dried Golden Aji and Golden Scotch Bonnet chillies and Pink Himalayan salt in a grinder we reused
1. Chilli Oil
This is our number one! Chilli oil is an underrated addition to your pantry. We have a variety of chilli oils in our kitchen and we use them to tie together a dish from the very beginning. You can add other flavourings to your chilli oil as well. Infuse oil with chilli and garlic, lemon, or herbs, for a full-flavour profile.
Just pop one or two chillies inside a bottle of oil of your choice (we prefer extra virgin olive oil) and let the chilli infuse for 4 to 6 weeks before using. Make sure you store your chilli oil in a cool, dark spot to prevent the oil from spoiling. We like to buy darker bottles to give our oil the longest shelf life.
Chilli oil also makes an awesome Christmas gift. We make multiple bottles of chilli oil in late October and let it infuse through to Christmas. Top tip: keep some extra bottles stashed in the cupboard for last-minute gifts for any unexpected guests!
A smorgasbord of chillies we harvested from our tiny garden
So, don't let an overabundance of chillies scare you away from having multiple chilli plants in your garden. Chilli plants are great fun. Just remember — you don't have to try all of these chilli ideas at once! Start small. Try one idea and work at it till you master it. Most of the ideas above can be done using frozen chillies, so freeze your chillies until you buy that dehydrator or until you have time to make Zac's Chilli Sweet sauce.
What is your favourite way to use chilli? Do you have any chilli-preserving secrets or recipes? Let us know in the comments below!
