CHILLIES - a rainbow of colour in the garden

 

After many hot and warm days here on the Adelaide Plains our chilli patch is laden with lots of multi coloured, multi shaped chillies. A real rainbow of colour and anticipated heat for cold winter days.

Most of these chillies will be frozen for use in soups, pesto's, curries, casseroles, veggie burgers, meat koftas, spice rubs, sauces, salsa’s, salad dressings, marinades, chilli jam, pickles and chutneys. Maybe even chilli brownies or chilli chocolate cake.

Purple Tiger is a great chilli to grow. Not only are the leaves beautiful and colourful but it produces masses of purple and red chillies. One purple tiger chilli will give enough heat for a really hot curry.

I think the hotness of chillies is dependant on many factors, like soil, water applied, heat from the sun, length of time on the bush and age of the chilli. More mature chillies are definitely sweeter.

I have picked chillies from the same bush and have found the heat content can vary. The membrane of chilli is the hottest part so if the seeds and membrane are removed, the chilli will not be so hot.

Have you experienced differing heat content and flavour in the same variety of chillies you have grown?

Today’s harvest of aubergines and green chilli has already been made into a spicy pasta sauce and the red chillies are all in the freezer.

I notice most food gardening bloggers are not blogging much lately. I imagine they, like us, are busy processing the last fruits and veggies of a warm autumn and pruning, composting and planting out seedlings grown for winter vegetable gardens.