Chilli?

[Adzo]

Love chillis. Only ever grew scotch bonnets, jalapeños, piri piris and some random thin Thai chilli.
By grew I mean I planted some seeds and ignored them till harvest.
The piri piris fruited the most, would get about a shopping bag of chillis off 2 good size bushes every year.
From everything I've read, piri piris are the only chilli not native to South/ Central Am.
Made some tasty sauces out of them, my favourite was a scotch bonnet and piri piri sweet chilli sauce.
Gave some to a mate and he started keeping the toilet paper in the freezer.

My real question here is semi related - but can someone answer this...

The Italians - they use tomatoes (a very close relative of the chilli and potato - all in the solancious (sp) family) frequently. But tomatoes never made it to the Italian land till after the fleets returned from the Americas.
So if it was as early as the 1400s - then what did they use on their pasta before then?

They also use chilli sparingly....

Which brings me to my next question - what about Asia - especially India which uses chillies in almost every dish... what did they use before the chillies were discovered in South America....?

Which brings me to my next question - the Birds Eye - did that originate in Africa? Or was it also South American it just made it to Africa the same way chillies came from South America to the Western World?

I find the history of the solanacious plant very interesting.

Sauces without tomato? Pesto, carbonara, alfredo, cheese sauces, stews and ragu, osso bucco, squid ink, simple things like olive oil and garlic.
My old man makes awesome sauces out of fennel leaves and anchovies, cauliflower and anchovies, and boiled endive, garlic and e.v.o.o.
Chilli gets used a lot at my Nonna's house, its a Sicilian thing more than a generalised Italian thing.

As for Asian cuisine, not sure. Probably mustard, nutmeg, mace, galangal, ginger, pepper.

I just read that you can eat the leaves. I was always lead to believe that they were poisonous like tomato and eggplant leaves.

 

[tooninoz]

As an update, I lost most of the crop for this year... The Nagas died in the first Brisbane storm (if ever a plant could be a sook, this is it), so much got smashed in the second storm, and most else died before/during the third.
The choc habaneros have just flourished though - they had lots chopped off the top in the second storm and are now starting to grow like a vine in sections?! Im gonna trim leaves tomorrow and set up a trellis I think.
In the photos, it's only 2 1/2ft tall yet yielding a huge crop with fruits creeping close to 2 1/2 inch. The angle of the pics doesn't show it properly. These are gonna be huge fruit!

For anyone wanting to enjoy Choc Habaneros, try HippySeeds site

Here's him sampling a choc

[video=youtube;jVUG4EA3dfU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVUG4EA3dfU[/video]

 

[bredli84]

here are some pics of mine.
the fruiting plant was given to me when about the size of the younger ones when i moved a couple of months ago.
the young ones i grew from seeds (thanks slim) and cant wait til they fruit. i hope i didn't leave them too late in the season.

 

[slim6y]

Hey god - they're looking good... Well done!!!

 

[moosenoose]

I absolutely love the stuff Somehow I managed to be a judge at the Victorian Chilli Festival one year (very, very hot day :lol, which incidentally is coming up on the 14th & 15th February !

http://www.hsfff.com/hsffmain.htm

 

[slim6y]

I absolutely love the stuff Somehow I managed to be a judge at the Victorian Chilli Festival one year (very, very hot day :lol, which incidentally is coming up on the 14th & 15th February !

http://www.hsfff.com/hsffmain.htm

I take it you tried not to go to the toilet for the following 6 weeks then?

 

[caustichumor]

I take it you tried not to go to the toilet for the following 6 weeks then?

After chopping and handling chillies it is also a good idea to wash your hands well "before" going to the toilet, Ghoneria isn't the only thing that can make it burn when you pee....

 

[slim6y]

After chopping and handling chillies it is also a good idea to wash your hands well "before" going to the toilet, Ghoneria isn't the only thing that can make it burn when you pee....

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Brilliant... and not just before you go to the toilet either... I mean, you often eat chillies at night... save me the infraction and put two and two together!

Also - watch it if you wear contact lenses - removal of contact lenses after eating chillies - is the single most silliest and painful idea you'll have (for a while).

 

[JasonL]

I'd agree with you on the guacamole, that dip you made was awesome!

 

[moosenoose]

Yeah Slim I love eating them, I try hard not to think of the consequences Chilli festivals hurt!

(Also, I'm not into eating whole raw chilli, sort of pointless and really not very nice imho)

 

[JasonL]

(Also, I'm not into eating whole raw chilli, sort of pointless and really not very nice imho)

Your missing out on the real flavour then.... raw is the best... anything else is just decorative.

 

[moosenoose]

No, no, I like raw, but not chewing into chillis like a freaking strawberry. Pointless IMO. I could handle doing it with birdseye chillis to an extent, but certainly not habenaros. I like chillis with other food, not the taste of them soley on their own Lay the heat on, but give me some flavour with it.

I get a kick watching the meatheads at chilli festivals munching their way through a punnet of habaneros - and oh yeah, they reeeeeeally look like their enjoying it...NOT! :lol:

 

[redbellybite]

I dont know what it is about the hotter the better .....may as well go stick a fire cracker up ya bum!

 

[JasonL]

After a while it becomes addictive and before you know it, it's not even that hot anymore...start with green curries and before you know it, your dreaming of Chinese Hot Pot restaurants ( the best place ever to eat out ).

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Youll be at Jindavik febuary 16th then moose.One of the great chilli festivals celebrates
10 years .
Here is a link to.. http://www.hsfff.com/
For chilli lovers

 

[moosenoose]

I sure will be! There on the Sunday!

Where else would I want to be other than a venue where you can go and drink beer, listen to a Blues band, eat extremely hot fun things and trip over all the potholes on Haggis's (the Biker who owns the place) Dear Farm that have been left by his stooopid deer

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

The Horrible Haggis is good value and an absolute animal.
Ive known him since we were kids (thats a long time).
Might even get to see some herps moose.
I will see you there on Sunday, Kaz is driving..woohoo

 

[Magpie]

I had to rip my birds eye chillis out, they just turn into weeds. Is a birds eye the same as a piri piri? Had hundreds of them growing, was pulling the plants out to feed to the chooks.
My jalapenos are doing well, does anyone know how to pickle them?

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Not the 16th of Feb..

It is on the 14th and 15th..duh

 

[moosenoose]

The Horrible Haggis is good value and an absolute animal.
Ive known him since we were kids (thats a long time).
Might even get to see some herps moose.
I will see you there on Sunday, Kaz is driving..woohoo

Very nice!! :lol:

Last time I went to the Chilli Festival I got stuck (LOST) in Noogee (sp??) with a thumping headache and a really drunk passenger (idiot) who just wouldn't stop yelling in my freakin' ear! (I managed to dump him at a servo when I told him to get out and ask for directions! :twisted: Muhahahahahaha)

Note to self: Drink heaps of water! Wear a hat! :lol: