Dried Chillies, Harissa and Pickled Jalapenos

OH is a chilli freak no question.  He quite happily munches his way through lots of chilli products and does not bat an eyelid.  Me only a very little now and again apart from sweet chilli sauce and  sweet chilli jam and jelly.  Otherwise I tend to stay clear and if I have a curry it is very mild.  Bit of a wimp me.

I dry chillies and use them whole in my pickled onions.  I string them up and then hang them from my dresser.  Just recently I have been able to buy fresh chillies from the Co-Op but they are in mixed packs of about four or five some red and some green.  It is the red ones I used for the pickled onions.  Using a pair of gloves,  (very important when handling any chilli as it can burn you and it  is not very pleasant.  I speak from experience), with a bodkin and string I thread the chillies onto what is in effect a long string and then hang them off my dressers to dry.  Then they are used in the pickled onions and shallots.  Once dry however you can whizz them up in the food processor and you have chilli flakes.  That is one way of using red chilli.  You can for Christmas hampers also cut out of card (breakfast cereal card is ideal for this)  a circle and then cut out a circle in the middle and then cover the card with some toning paper and then hand stitch the chillies onto the card, add a hanging tag, and hang up to dry.  Once dry the wreath can be covered with cellophane or placed into one of the cellophane cake bags and popped into a hamper for a keen cook. 

You can also make a shelf friendly Lay Chilli flakes which is a wet preserve and I will pop the recipe up for this as a separate item.

You can also make Harissa which is a very pungent hot chilli paste from Scotch Bonnet Chillies. I am going to source some of these during the next week as OH is particularly fond of Chillies.  Here is a link on how to make this very hot preserve together with links for the recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkwWrLCt9Ac

Bearing in mind every time we have a home made chilli OH indulges in lots of pickled Jalapenos, I thought that this might be a good way of using up the green chillies that I have been left with after drying all the red ones.

I have made plenty of pickles over the year but I have not ever had a go at Jalapenos, so this is a first for me; but first of all I needed a recipe.  Having a mooch around the Internet I have located this one here: 

http://www.simplyscratch.com/2013/05/easy-homemade-pickled-jalapenos.html

So this is the one I am going to have a bash at.  Hopefully other half will approve  = this is not my thing so I hope he eats it all up.  It is a very simple recipe to prepare.