Topic: What chillis do you use?

[Yellow Fingers]

Is there an easy way to turn green chillis red ?

Well I don't know about easy, but you've probably heard of the trick of ripening avacado by sealing it in an airtight bag with bananas or banana skins? This really does work and the chemistry for chillies is the same. The bananas release ethylene gas which is the ripening accelerator. Chillies work on the same principle, as do many fruits, and although I haven't tried it the same banana in bag trick should work. If you try it you will know within a day or two. Hope that helps.

[traveller]

How about washing and drying them and freezing them whole?  This is what I do when I have too many. To use, I just rinse the frozen chilli quickly in water and it becomes pliable just enough to chop up.  of course, I dont know how much the heat is affected - not too much from my experience and the fresh taste of green chili is completely retained.

Payal

[pete]

Forgive me for asking a daft question...
Is there an easy way to turn green chillis red ?

They would all go red if left on the plant
So would green peppers
Once picked, it's unlikely you'll manage it

[Yellow Fingers]

Once picked, it's unlikely you'll manage it

No, it's definitely doable Pete. See my post above. The more fruit that goes in the bag with the chillies the, the more ethylene gas is produced and the quicker the chillies will ripen, i.e. turn red.

[Angelina]

This sounds interesting, where do you folks get the seeds for these chillis?

On a related note,
If trying to grow coriander, use seeds from an Asian grocer rather than proper garden centre seeds as they're a tiny fraction of the cost. Alternatively, buy one of the live plants from a supermarket, break up the root ball and transfer to a larger pot with more compost.

I did this in the spring.  Bought a reduced coriander plant from the supermarket and planted it up.  Used the coriander in cooking untill it went to seed.  I then harvested the seeds, dried them and have a little tub of the most fragrant coriander seeds i've ever smelt, and all for about 25p!