3 Awesome Ways to Use HOT Homegrown Peppers 🌶️

Growing your own hot peppers can be really rewarding, especially if you make the most of your harvest to elevate your cooking and meals. Join me to see 3 simple and tasty recipes to use hot and spicy peppers - from chili flakes to chili oil and chili jam!

I'll also give a bonus tip on how to overwinter your peppers plants :) Hope you enjoy.

Recipes:
Chili flakes - wash and roughly chop peppers, place in dehydrator at 55c for 8-12 hours or until dry and brittle. Blend in food processor until desired flake size. Keep lid on blender for 5 minutes before opening to avoid a cloud of chili dust coming at you. Alternatively, crush the dry chilies with rolling pin on chopping board. Store in a clean and dry jar.

Chili Oil:
Ingredients:
2 cups neutral oil (like vegetable, canola, or sunflower oil)
2 tablespoons chili flakes (adjust to taste depending on heat of the chilies)
6 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons ginger (minced)
4 green onions - chopped
2 cardamom pods (cracked slightly to release flavor)
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
Salt to taste (about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon)
Method:
Toast the Spices:
Toast the cardamom pods, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon bark, and coriander seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them.
Infuse the Oil:
In a pot, add the oil, garlic, ginger, and green onions.
Add the toasted spices to the oil mixture.
Turn the heat to medium-high, and gently cook for around 10-15 minutes, ensuring the garlic and ginger don’t burn, but release their flavors.
Reduce the heat if necessary, keeping an eye on the garlic and onions to avoid browning too quickly.
After the flavors have infused into the oil, strain the hot oil mixture directly into a bowl containing the chili flakes and a little salt.
Stir well to combine and allow the oil to cool down before storing.
Once cooled, transfer the chili oil to a sterilized glass jar.

Chili Jam:
Ingredients:
8 chillies roughly chopped (but depends of heat of your chillies)
12 cloves garlic - peeled
160g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 makrut lime leaves
Finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
2½ cups sugar
½ cup water
½ cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
Method:
Sterilize 2 jars with hot water and place in oven at 120c.
Place a small plate in the fridge.
Purée the chillies, garlic, ginger, and makrut lime leaves to a rough paste. Place in a pot with the lemon zest, water, rice wine vinegar, and sugar.
Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then boil for about 10 minutes until reduced.
Once it looks jammy, spoon a tsp onto the cold plate from the fridge to see if it sets to desired jam consistency.
Spoon the jam into the hot sterilized jars and seal.

Come Say Hi!

VIDEO SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU:

Books I've enjoyed and found helpful:

Grafting and Budding: A Practical Guide for Fruit and Nut Plants and Ornamentals

Hi, I'm Kalem, and this channel features all sorts of unusual and exotic fruiting plants with tips of how to successfully grow them. I'm interested in all things gardening and love growing my own food and all types of edible plants.
I live on a 2 acre piece of land in New Zealand where we are turning a grass paddock into and abundant, edible paradise and food forest! So come along on this journey with me as I experiment with growing, and try to push the limits of what I can grow. I'll share with you my successes and failures so hopefully you'll learn from them and have a go yourself! Come learn with me and Subscribe to join this awesome community :)

0:00 Intro
0:26 How to overwinter pepper plants
1:26: Chili flakes - how to
2:44 Chili oil
4:48 Chili Jam
6:47 Other chili suggestions?

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[vancegilmore]

Thanks Kalem for teaching me about over wintering pepper plants. I didn't know it could be done. 🌿

[Robert-xygi]

I enjoy your channel, especially the cooking and preserving segments. It’s great to see what someone else does with the surplus, of the garden and orchard.

[MrBenjigee]

Three great ideas, and one that I'd like to add is pickled chillies. They are great in a mixed pickle, especially with red onion, and great by themself too, as long as you spice the pickling liquor properly.

[walterpiar]

In the chilly jam if you use orange instead of lemon then it would be more specifically for pork or chicken which is really good

[monkeymagic]

Hello, I like to grow jalapeños here in the South of the UK as they don't need a long summer season. Stuffed with Greek Feta and wrapped in bacon then on the BBQ. A Fab starter for the family.

[anthonyterlizzi]

Ooo i might have to try that chilli jam! That looks good

[ligushan]

Great stuff bro. Looks like your plants did well. Super glad to see. Keep spicy 🌶️🔥🔥

[epiqueerian]

Love how much useful info you put in each video while making them nice and short 😁

[blockhill]

Perfect timing, I've been looking for recipes to use the spicy rocotto peppers that have been growing well under cover over winter.

[loho]

Not gonna lie after the last hot pepper video I am bit afraid of what you‘re gonna do to yourself this time

[cuttwice]

I keep my dehydrator outside when drying spicy/smelly foods.  
Making ristras with my peppers is a great way to dry them and provide decor I can eat.  They are beautiful hanging next to doors because I live in the American South West.
If you want to keep squirrels away from your bird feeder add extra hot chili flakes with the seeds and you don't have to worry about squirrels getting uppity. Birds are immune to the heat.

[gartengeflugel]

I was just thinking about your videos! Also I have that same pair of secateurs, wouldn't have thought they sell the same on literally opposite parts of the world. I sadly have no exciting chili recipes to share, I either store mine dried whole or as fine flakes/coarse powder. Lovely video, cheers from Germany

[daytonzr]

Loveeee ittt!!!! Great to see you doing soo well!!!

[nayakal]

Woa, that chilli jam on a cheese board would be divine!

[RJNL]

I make fermented pepper hot sauce and dried pepper powder. I like to freeze peppers to add to dishes during the winter months. Also, fresh Shishito peppers sautéed in a little oil and sprinkled with salt is popular in my family.

[AlohaGrower]

I never considered growing peppers as I don't like to eat them, but this video has given me a lot of ideas.

[BlancaS-vokq]

He's my favourite person thank you so much it helps a lot to me thanks brother ❤

[laddieokelley]

Beautiful food. Probably too spicy for my advanced age, but I can imagine the flavors and textures.

[ralfielicious]

Really interesting and useful, thanks xx

[DavidS]

Such great ideas for pepper use. Sadly the deer ate all my pepper plants this year (and last year too). I did put netting over them but the deer just tore it all away and used the garden as a buffet.