Blog entries

Bhut Jolokia is crowned king

Steve Waters — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:48:13 +0100

I've just uploaded this very interesting article from the Chile Pepper Institute - a detailed report on the study of the Bhut Jolokia chilli.

Bhut Jolokia is crowned king

Identify Your Chilli Plant

Steve Waters — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:09:04 +0100

How to identify your chilli plant species

If you are given a chilli plant of misplace a plant marker, this guide should help identify the species:

Pubescens (e.g.Rocoto)

- Seeds Black

Annuum (e.g. Jalapeno)

- Seeds tan colour
- Corolla White (no spots)
- Flowers solitary per node and filament NOT purple

Baccatum (e.g. Aji)

- Seeds tan colour
- Corolla has spots

Chinense (e.g. Habanero)

- Seeds tan colour
- Corolla white or greenish, no spots
- Flo...

January at SDCF

Steve Waters — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:08:14 +0100

January at the chilli Farm

A new year and we’re nearly done with clearing out the polytunnels all the 2009 plants are now in a big compost stack. Since we don’t plant the tunnels again until mid to late April, we won’t start sowing seed for a few weeks yet.

We have more new chillies to try this year (see the new offerings on the seeds page) including a wider range of ornamental chillies. We also hope to grow a lot more Bhut Jolokia this year...

Bhut Jolokia story

Steve Waters — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:14:04 +0100

Story of the Bhut Jolokia - short version!
In the year 2000, reports of a very hot chilli started coming out of Assam, India. The Bhut Jolokia was reported as being twice as hot as the previous record holder, the Red Savina Habanero.

These initial reports were treated with a lot of scepticism in the chilli community. It took a trial carried out in 2005 by the Chilli Pepper Institute to convince folk that this chilli was the new king. In this trial, the CPI measured the Bhut ...

New Product - Rapeseed Chilli Oil

Steve Waters — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:53:42 +0100

We have been working with our friends at THE SEED Co. on a Chilli Oil using their wonderfully flavoursome cold pressed Rapeseed Oil. I have tried a few Rapeseed oils now, and the one from THE SEED Co. is the best I have found for flavour. Find our Rapeseed Chilli Oil in our online shop from today. Some good bread and a small bowl of this oil is a great start to a meal.

Getting Ready for 2010

Administrator — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Growing Chillies From Seed. If you are thinking of having a go at growing chillies next year, here is a shopping list to get you off to a flying start.

Shopping List. A heated propagator or warming mat is a valuable tool for germinating chilli seeds - they like it hot! At the farm, we sow the seeds thickly in a soil-based seed compost and place the pots in heated propagators - we expect to see an erruption of shoots between 6 and 10 days later - some do take longer. A Jonh Innes s...

Drying Chillies - a rough guide.

Administrator — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

What do I do with all these chillies? This is the time of year when you may be wondering what to do with bushes and bushes of chillies: eat them all, give them away/sell them, preserve them (vinegar and/or sugar), freeze or dry them. This entry is about drying them - dried chillies are really marvelous for all sorts of reasons.

Flavour and smell: A chilli can conjure flavours from thin air when they are dried. The most common flavour that develops from a 'large red' chilli is that of r...

Peanut Butter & Chilli Jelly – PB&J

Administrator — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Peanut butter that doesn’t glue your mouth shut: Mix some jelly (I used our chilli jelly of course) with peanut butter – I went for about 3-parts peanut butter to 1-part chilli jelly - mix together well with a fork, and spread on some toast or in a sandwich.

The PB&J combination is big in the USA or course – on Wikipedia, a 2002 survey is mentioned which claims that the average American will have eaten 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school &...