Like a lot a people I have had a really good crop of chillis. This is only my second season and, as last year was a disaster, this is my first where I've had the problem of how to store the glut.
Now I know that drying is a common method but I thought I'd try my own: shredding them in a blender, sticking them in a big jar and covering with olive oil. It works for lime pickle so why not chillis?
I left it all for about a week and then gave it a try. Even though I'd grown hot varieties the chillis came out much less fiery than expected, but the oil.... How can I best describe it? Well remember the scene in
Alien where they cut into the baby one and its blood cut through several levels of the ship? It's hotter than that
And as time passes the oil is getting hotter.
Then I twigged where I'd gone wrong and that storage under oil isn't mentioned anywhere: capsaicin is soluble in fats/oils
Hence why a lassi or glass of milk cools your mouth after a hot curry rather than a glass of beer.
Still, the shredded chillis are very enjoyable and I can always use the oil for destroying alien spaceships