Today I am re-posting the recipe for George’s fabulous chilli oil first posted in 2016.

Aside from his many other talents George was a fabulous cook and keen gardener, growing all kinds of chillies and making his fabulous chilli oil. He kindly shared his recipe with us.

Chilli oil is great to have at hand to give a kick to all kinds of dishes as well as having an impressive list of health benefits with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits for the body. One thing to note is that the longer a chilli has to mature, the more of these healthy compounds they have. Therefore growing your own chillies allows you to choose the level of maturity for various culinary or health uses.

Chillies are in season and there are so many varieties to choose from depending on your taste and tolerance for heat so seek out the best chillies for you. Enjoy making your own chilli oil using George’s recipe.

Thanks for adding spice to our lives George!

George’s Fabulous Chilli Oil

Ingredients:

• 250g well ripened Chilli’s
•  1/2 cup Whisky
•  1 L Light Olive Oil
•  Sterilised glass jar with good seal, able to hold quantity of oil plus chilli’s – with 15-20% room to breathe

Method:

1. As the fumes in making the chilli oil are very strong you may wish to use a burner outside or make sure the room is well ventilated

2. Prepare chillies by carefully removing the stalks, twisting them but making sure not to break the chillies when doing this, keeping them as whole as possible.

3. Dry fry the chillies in a fry pan, stirring constantly until soft and taking care not burn them or allow them to dry out -approx. 20 minutes.

4. Add the whisky (with some for the chef), and stir until the whisky has been soaked up or has evaporated.

5. Place cooked  chilli’s in the sterilised jar and cover with the oil allowing a 15-20% gap between the oil and the lid.

6. Store for at least a month. The longer it is stored the better for developing the flavour of the oil.

7. When the chilli oil has been fully rested test the oil for its potency. If it is too hot it can be divided, more oil added and rested again. This will depend on the heat of the chillies themselves and to your own taste.

8. Use the chilli oil in your cooking to add flavour and kick to your dishes. It is especially great drizzled on a pizza

Different Types of Chillies from George’s Garden

George shared the fruits of his green thumb with friends and below are some of the varieties he grew in potted profusion. So, even if all you have is a small sunny spot you too can grow your favourite type of chilli. (See link below for details of these and many other varieties of chilli and where to source seeds).

1.Green chillies

Attractive with good yields of chillies that become a deep red when mature. They have a medium heat of Scoville Heat Units of 38,000.

2. Halapeno chillies

This is a medium heat, high yielding chilli that fruits for 6 months under the right conditions. Scoville Heat Units 2500 to 8,000.

3. Trinidad 7 Pod White

Very productive chilli with extreme heat that matures from light green to white. Scoville Heat Units of 900,000.

4. Habanero Orange

Most commonly grown chilli and very prolific cropper. It is an extreme hot chilli. Heat Units 200,000 to 350,000.

Another variety of chilli grown at our community garden

The image below is of the birds eye chilli grown in a raised garden bed covered in maturing chillies. They really are a beautiful sight.

To Find Out More About Chilli Varieties and Heat Levels

Visit this site:

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-types/

To Purchase Chilli Seeds:

Visit the site below:

Happy Valley Seeds

Happy Valley Seeds is an Australian family-owned and operated company located in Sydney, Australia. They sell seeds online to Australian and overseas home gardeners. 

They have a large variety of chilli seeds as well as many other vegetable, flower and herb seeds.