Cloudy Sky Designs

A selection of photos from Summertime as the season draws to a close…

Apple

Butterfly

Strolling through the Trees

Old Royal Infirmary

The chilli plant has been producing some hot and spicy chillies that have been making their way into our dinners recently. Well, I wondered whether it would just have the one crop or whether it would continue to make more chillies…the wondering is now over:

Fully grown chillies and the latest buds and flowers…

So, hopefully I’ll get another crop of chillies for the end of summer…will keep the updates coming.

Meanwhile what to do with all these many chillies…

1. Pick and use fresh from the plant - delicious, very hot and spicy and surprisingly fragrant.
2. Picked some red chillies and dried them in the sun - verdict to be announced soon.
3. Left some chillies on the plant to dry - verdict to be announced soon.
4. Picked some chillies and put them in the fridge - hopefully I’ll be able to try these compared to freshly picked and see what level of deterioration there has been - verdict to be announced soon.

More news on the chilli plant as it happens, so keep checking back!

Yesterday was taste-test day for the homegrown chillies. Let me first show off the first chili fruit taken from the plant…

Homegrown Chillies

Now, the tasting notes:

Well, freshly picked chillies seem to have a strong aroma when cut into, I was surprised by how hot and spicy the chillies were - and I didn’t even eat the seeds raw, just tasted a bit of the flesh…

I tasted the red chili first. It was hot, spicy, with a good fresh yet slightly mellow and sweet flavour. Definitely good for stir frying, pasta sauces and general heat to add to a spicy dish.

Then I tasted a bit of the green chili - it was much hotter, very fresh tasting and with a pronounced zing. I think I could even make Laab with these, although I usually use birds-eye chillies. It would also be good to add to Indian curries for a bit of extra kick.

I think I will be growing more of these! And the plant is pretty too, although mine is now kinda toppling over with the weight of all those chillies! Better get harvesting soon…

And finally, a recipe from cookalicious, try this dish with your homegrown or shop-bought chillies, great for summer! Spaghetti with Spicy Tomato and Chorizo Sauce.

As you may remember, I planned to show the progress of the chilli plant in the window…well, here is a quick summary before showing you the nearly final steps before harvesting…

The chilli plant started pretty small, back in April/May this year. It was purchased from Dobby’s near Dalkeith.

First it started growing like mad, and was soon a little top heavy with leaves and began to flower. The small white flowers were the first pictures I posted…check them out: first flowers, more growth!

Then voila, the flowers began to die and chillies appear in their place…first pictures back in June, see the first chilli and more!

Well, for a spectacularly long time I’ve been watering, feeding and willing on the growth of more. For a while there, the chilli plant was nearly toppling over with the number of green, growing chillies, and now finally, they are starting to turn purple, with some of the wee ones bright red already!

A few days more and harvesting may well begin…

Chilli plant close up

The full effect!

…on the chilli plant. Can't wait to try cooking with them.

First growth from flowers

Forming a proper chilli shape

fully shaped chilli - but how big will they grow?