Hot Chillies

[HomeBrew]

I am very proud of the chillies I have grown (got the seeds off issue 2) but they are all green. What do I have to do to ripen them?

PS. Curry, my houe, Friday.

[Parsnip Person]

Where is your house then Homebrew?

[purlyne]

Hot Chillis

All chillis start off green. you can still use them like that, they won't be as hot. They ripen to red or orange and the flavour gets stronger.

[Little chick]

I have grown my chillis from seeds that I got free with GYO mag and was also giving up on them ever turning red but I noticed that today 2 chillis are beginning to go red so don't give up they will just take a little time to turn red ....................

[flourpower]

I'm no chilli expert but my neighbour is, and he told me that it's a complete fallacy that red chillies are hotter than green ones. (They do look better though!) Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[nelsona]

I'm no chilli expert but my neighbour is, and he told me that it's a complete fallacy that red chillies are hotter than green ones. (They do look better though!) Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Check here for a bit of info

Seems to be related to the size rather than the colour

[superrachy]

i also planted the GYO seeds and got some lovely green chillies from the plants - i couldnt wait til they turned red. i gobbled them up in a stir-fry the other week!!

I have also bought a plant this year from a DIY store, as i tend to get wimpy little plants when i grow things from seeds. The chillies are called "Apache".

I have quite a big crop of chillies on the plant at the moment but they are all quite small and most of them are red or in the process of turning red. Both red and green are quite potent even at this small size!!

Does anyone know if these will continue to get bigger even though they are red now?

Another interesting point i noticed, the chillies at the base of the plant turned red first - is this coincidence or because they were growing in the shade of the upper leaves?

[Geordie]

Some chilli answers

I am not a chilli guru but have grown them for a number of years so will try and use this experience to answer your queries:

Apache variety generally grow to approx 2 inch.

I tend to find that 'hotness' of a chilli is not dependent on its colour (its probably psychological!) Removing the seeds will not make much difference either as its actually the inner skin that counts.

The strength of a chilli is determined by the type of chilli you grow - if you like hot chillis grow a hot chilli type. In case its too hot milk or yoghurt is best....beer will make it worse (sorry!)

As for chillis turning red....its down to temperature, both day & night. If temperature starts to drop below 55-60 they will not change. Also be aware that varieties have different timescales for developing....some will be quick some will be slow.....it matters! Depending on your location i would give it another week or so before giving up!

If you find you have a glut on your hands the best time to pick for drying is when they just start to change colour.

I hope this helps....anymore just ask

[graham1968]

you having better luck than me my peppers are doing great my toms are coming nicly but me chillis well seem to be very slow at doing anything i feed them water them they have the peppers as there pot friends the pot being 6ft long they growing lots off leafs but arnt that tall

[Ratty]

I grew cayenne last year... and have some more in this year.

I found that they didn't begin to ripen until late August, and even then when I tried one it was slightly bitter and not hot.

Only when I left them until mid-September when the fruits had gone a much deeper red and slightly soft did they acquire that firey kick!!!

Patience is the key!

[shirlthegirl43]

Overwinter them and you will have ripe chillies really early next year!! I have been picking mine since March! (Also grown from the free seeds on Issue 2)

[bramble]

It will depend when you sowed them. I started mine off beginning of Feb and have been using them for the past couple of weeks which is when they started to turn red. For anyone who does'nt like their chilli's too hot there is a very nice one calledHungarian hot wax.

[dexterdoglancashire]

They start of green then turn red later. Lucky you - I've not even had any flowers on my plants yet - I blame the weather! Bernie