Rev. Peanut's Chilli Oil

Chilli Oil:

Necessary Items:

A significant number of chillies

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? That’s ‘cos it is.

But there’re a couple of things to watch out for:

How to do it:

• If you’re using dried chillies then you’re grand, so you are.

• If you’re using fresh chillies you run the risk of cultivating botulinum bacteria and therefore ending up looking like Joan Rivers before she died, or in some cases, after she did so.

• Contracting botulism from your home made chilli oil is pretty unlikely, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and all dead and stuff.

• Botulinum needs water to grow and the water in the fresh chillies and the zero oxygen in the oil create the perfect conditions for the little fucker. You can limit the chances of this happening by adding a bit of acidity to the equation.

• Heat some vinegar to just below boiling and then pour it over the chillies. Cover and allow to cool. Once cooled, add the oil and pour into a steralized bottle.

• Keep refrigerated and use within a couple of months.

• Probably best to do small amounts regularly rather than a bucket every year.

• Or…

• Dry your chillies, stick ‘em in a sterilized bottle. Heat the oil to just below boiling and pour over the chillies. Allow to cool, cover and refrigerate.

• Personally, I filter the oil and chuck the chillies after a couple of weeks. The oil retains the flavour but you don’t need to worry about your chillies going all mouldy an’ ting. Innit?

• Job done.