Chili oil

[Chad]

Yay, my chiles are starting to come in. The Carolina Cayennes have finally come to life, the habaneros are turning orange and the SuperChiles (a pequin hybrid, I'm told) are going gangbusters.

Aside from salsa fresca, pickled peppers and generally heating up anything within reach (when the wife & kids aren't looking ), I'm considering making some chile oil. I realize that this is probably so simple that I shouldn't even be asking the question, but:

• Do you have a recommended oil (EVOO or something more neutral)?
  
• Do I just pop the chiles in the oil & wait or is there some heating involved?
  
• What's the time frame between putting the chiles in the oil and having a sufficiently infused oil?
  
• Any other recommendations or hints/tips?
  

Thanks!

Chad

[=Mark]

Bear in mind that infusing any fresh fruit, veggie or herb in oil raises possible issues of botulin growth. Best to use dried chiles or to heat above 180f for 15 to 20 minutes.

[slkinsey]

I have always made chili oil with dried chilis, so you may want to dry yours before you do it. Just plop a bunch of minced dried chilis into the oil of your choice (something fairly neutral is good, although I have done using unfiltered Sicilian evoo with great results) and heat slightly. After steeping for a little while (you can test the oil to see how well it has infused), pour off most of the oil into a bottle and keep in the refrigerator. The remaining chili sludge and oil makes a nice condiment all by itself, but doesn't seem to last as long.

One thing you can do with fresh chilis is make chili vinegar. Nothing beats it with greens.

[SobaAddict70]

you could also try chili booze (I think Jaymes has a post on it somewhere around here).

Soba

[Jinmyo]

Sure. Vodka or tequila with chile.

To make chile oil, definitely use dried (toast them a bit first) and heat the oil, let cool, strain if desired.

[Chad]

Great. Thanks for the tips. I didn't realize they'd need to be dried first to make chile oil. Of course it's 106 today, so stringing them up and drying them on the deck for a couple of days would be pretty easy.

As for infused alcohol, that's a nifty idea which immediately made me wonder if chiles (as a fruit) have enough residual sugar to be fermented and distilled into a brandy. Talk about "firewater!" I built a still as my eighth grade science project and have always wanted to try it again. I'm from North Carolina & Tennessee -- you might say it runs in the family .

Chad

Edited July 18, 2003 by Chad (log)

[Toliver]

I'd recommend drying most of your harvest. My brother uses a Ronco-type food dehydrator on his chiles and it works like a charm.

If you leave them whole after drying, you can always rehydrate the chiles by soaking them in hot water depending on the dish you make. Or you can grind the dried chiles (with stems removed) in a dedicated coffee grinder to make crushed pepper flakes which can be easily added to dishes.

My brother grinds his dried peppers outdoors because the grinding creates a fine pepper mist that burns. He also wears goggles and a breathing mask to prevent getting "gassed' by the pepper mist (a lesson you have to learn only once).

He then gives the hot flakes (and these are really HOT) in shaker bottles as Christmas gifts to the rest of the chileheads in our family. I usually have to have a refill mid-year.

As for harvesting the crop, last year my brother paid his daughter a penny a picked pepper and, boy, does she keep track of how much she's harvested! Last year this arrangement cost him almost ten dollars, which speaks of the bounty of his harvest. I think this year my niece, smart businesswoman-to-be, is renegotiating for 2 cents a pepper.

[jmcgrath]

You can also smoke dry them. Chipotles are smoked ripe jalapenos, but I have smoked many varieties. Unless the peppers are very dry, they keep best in the freezer.

Jim