Kurma

Maybe all that capsaicin has affected my brain, but while I was chanting peacefully in the garden this afternoon I could have sworn my plants were trying to communicate with me.

Marjorie Marjoram rustled her leaves indignantly in the breeze as if to complain, "Hmmmff! Those bigshot chilies are always the centre of attention."

"Chào anh!" whispered the handsome pointy-leaved Vietnamese Mint, perhaps to remind me he was still there. The famous laksa herb had almost dried up in envy until a good dose of TLC and plant food revived him from death's door a few weeks ago.

The closely-knit silverbeet community (swiss chard) creaked their crunchy red and white stalks as if to capture my attention. "Yes I know", I whispered re-assuringly, "I haven't forgotten you. You're on the menu tomorrow with chickpeas and fresh panir".

All the while, a smug quartet of late-blooming Red Savina's swayed ever-so-slightly, confident that their offspring would soon make headline news on Kurma's Blog. "No qué usted sabe", they seemed to say just loud enough to be heard by all the other plants, "pero quién usted sabe."

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Freddy from Santa Fe, New Mexico writes:

"Hey there Kurma, love your chili story! Have been following it from when those were little seedlings. I love growing chilies, and New Mexico is a great place to do it. Red Savinas rock!"

Nice for a little feedback. You may be wondering what I am planning to do with all those magnificent chilies, being that no-one else in the house can eat much chili, and even if they could, I reckon one Red Savina could spice up a dish for 100 people. Remember, Red Savinas are 65 times hotter than jalapenos.

Well, the four I picked and halved the other day have been recycled for spare parts.

The seeds: I put on double rubber gloves, scraped out their innards (the seeds + placental tissue) and popped that on an uncovered saucer in the fridge. Refrigerators do a great job of drying out things. In a week or so I'll be able to rub off the seeds, wrap them in paper towel, dessicate them a little more before placing them in a sealed labelled envelope, ready for planting next season.

The chili flesh: After taking out the insides of the chilies, I placed the flesh on some foil on a pizza tray in a 50 degree C oven and held them there for 14 hours. The results, as you can see, were pretty perfect. Still good colour, dry crisp flesh and - wow - so much concentrated heat! I tried the smallest possible little crumb I could physically cut off with a knife (pinhead amount) and it was mouth numbing.

I'll dry them in batches, as they come to ripeness, and nothing will be wasted. I was also thinking of making some chili oil. I'll give pepper spray a miss.

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