Hot in the kitchen

They may kick and bite but they also have an irreplaceable flavour factor that makes them a cook’s best friend – get to know your chillis, but remember to handle with care (literally).

Have you ever made a dish that seems flat no matter what you add? Salt doesn’t help, fresh herbs don’t do it. You need something to give it pep. Chilli! A sprinkle of chilli flakes can work magic, creating a contrast to sharp acidity in a dish and adding a layer of warmth to other spices.

However, just a little may be all you need.

It’s not always possible to tell how hot a chilli is by looking at it. And the same plant that produces mild chillis can also produce a handful of throat burners. In my experience, home-grown chillis are hotter mid-to late season, so don’t presume the first few mild chillis you pick off a plant are a reliable indication of the strength of fruits to come.

When you are buying chillis, the size and shape of the chilli can give some clues, but there are always exceptions. Generally, the smaller the chilli and the pointier the tip on a skinny chilli, the hotter it is likely to be.

There is more variety than ever available in the shops these days, with bird’s eye, habanero, jalapeno, serrano and scotch bonnets all making regular appearances.

Apart from slicing, fresh chillis can be pickled, salted, roasted and fermented, each adding a different dimension and heat to a dish. There are no guarantees with chillis. My test is to run a toothpick over the seed casing and to rest that on my tongue. If you follow suit, you’ll soon know whether you have a hot chilli (a real hot one will make you leap about). It’s not a foolproof test, so we are fortunate that about a hundred years ago, Wilbur Scoville, a pharmacist, developed a heat-test for chillis using the human tongue as a measuring instrument. Groups of testers were given samples of pungent chilli chemicals, extracted by dissolving chillis in alcohol, mixed with sugar water. The sugar water content was increased until the chilli chemical could no longer be detected. The chilli was then given a rating in heat units. It was the benchmark measuring system until recently. The tongue test has now been replaced by a machine, but the heat of chillis is still recorded in Scoville units.