Candied Chilli Peppers
Sometimes I ask myself some odd questions, and one of them, when thinking about our recent Mexican ice cream flavours, was whether one could candy chilli peppers in the same way one candies orange peels. They are a fruit, after all. The answer to this is of course you can, and they are strangely addictive. We put them into ice cream as an inclusion for the food festival, but we also snacked on them over the course of the week.
If you want to make something different, and like spicy things, give them a go! (They also look quite dramatic as a decoration – especially if you combine red and green chillis).
Please note: you would be wise to use plastic gloves when chopping the chillis, or at the very least make sure you wash your hands carefully afterwards. If you absentmindedly rub your eye before doing so (as I have done), you will have a very unpleasant reaction.
Candied Chilli Peppers
Ingredients:
150g fresh, mild chilli peppers
150g sugar
300g water
What to do:
1. Cut the stems off the chillis, then cut them lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, and chop them into narrow, half-round strips.
2. Combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Add the chopped chillis and cook over medium heat for about an hour, topping up with water as needed to keep from burning.
4. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve, catching the chilli peppers. (The syrup is quite tasty too if you want to keep it – great over mango sorbet or fruit…)
5. Using a spoon or spatula, spread the chillis on a baking tray, and bake at 200C for about 5-10 minutes to dry them out. They should darken slightly but not turn brown.
6. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!
Technorati tags: chilli, recipe, candied, candy
This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Candy, sauce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
That’s a really interesting idea, may have to give it a go. I imagine the syrup would also go well in a sorbet or as part of a mexican inspired cocktail.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I have a naga chilli plant but I’m guessing those really wont work with this……
October 14th, 2008 at 9:05 am
What a brilliant idea!!! I love it and will totally do a red/green combo coming up to Christmas. Beautiful!
October 14th, 2008 at 11:00 am
What an interesting concept! And they look really good too! My husband loves hot chilis and hot peppers – I think he’d really enjoy these!
October 14th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Candied chili peppers? Ranks right up there with chocolate covered ants!
Oh well, to each his/her own!
I’ll have a scoop of caramel pecan please~
October 15th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I am a chilli addict so will definitely be trying this out, thanks a mill!!
October 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Good to get the recipe, Kieran – I’ve been wanting to try these babies out for myself!
October 16th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Well, there is chili “jam”, so why not candied chili… the weird combinations you come up with sometimes…
October 16th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Or how about a chili/chocolate combination?
Dark, rich chocolate icecream with pieces of candied chili running through it? Mmmm
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I’ll definitely be trying these – what would think about folding them into chocolate mousse? Remember when removing the seeds to take the membrane out too, it contains lots of the heat.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Loved the candied chilli recipe! I discovered that it still tastes great even if it does go brown in the oven – I got a bit distracted. The problem I have is how to get it into chocolate or ice-cream before it all gets eaten….
February 19th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I had the same problem. We ate fistfuls of them!
April 18th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Thanks for the idea! I candied a habanero pepper to put on mango sherbet, and it was great. I loved the spicy syrup left over.
http://hecooksshecooks.net/2009/04/mango-habanero-sherbet/
October 6th, 2010 at 1:06 am
I too was wondering whether candied chillies would be possible and I stumbled across this. I’m definitely trying this recipe over the weekend!
September 9th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
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