Ciao! It’s time for a post that we’ve been working on for a little while now. In fact, it’s been in the works for around 6 months. Near the end of last year, we decided to build a little seedling nursery in the garage, and teach ourselves how to grow a whole heap of perfect chillies. This is a step-by-step guide — everything you need to know — of how to grow your own. Plus a sneaky recipe for the very best fermented chilli sauce out there.
We kept it nice and simple, so I’ll keep this simple too. First off, the garage set-up. I started out with two large seedling trays on separate heat mats, with transparent ventilating domes over the top, and a lamp hanging about 45 cm above soil level (at close to full power; you can of course dim the light and hang it closer). I connected my heat mats to thermostats with the thermometers in amongst the seedlings, and threw a couple of hygrometers in there for good measure.
The lamp was connected to a programmable adapter, allowing me to program in 14 hours of light a day without running to and from the garage. All of this meant that I had full control of day and night temperature, humidity/moisture, and eventually wind during the hardening process (courtesy of my workbench fan). As a guide, chilli seeds need about 20°C to germinate, and the fruit needs 30°C to ripen, with night temperatures ideally not dropping below 15°C. I actually had one tray of chillies set to 26 degrees, and another for general herbs and veggies set to 24 degrees. I also kept relative humidity around 50%, but most chilli varieties seemed happy enough when it rose to 75-80% – you can mostly manage this with the dome vents, although I eventually propped the domes up on bamboo.
The night before planting the seeds, I rehydrated jiffy pellets and gave them time to warm on the heat mats. I also soaked the seeds in warm chamomile tea for 24 hours beforehand – this just softens the seed coat and can speed up germination.
Refer to notes for your specific seeds, but most will sprout just fine sown to a depth of around 5mm. Don’t forget labels!
Although this was mainly a chilli project, with 12 different varieties growing in our little seedling nursery (Aji White Fantasy, Anaheim, Buena Mulata, Bulgarian Carrot, Cayenne, Fire and Ice, Jalapeño, Padron, Red Cherry Hot, Serrano, Siam, and Tepin), we did also find space for parsley, Thai and Genovese basil, and Cherry Falls and Tommy Toe tomatoes. More excitingly, my Ma dropped off a bag of dried out seeds from my Nonna’s old basil patch that grew into the most determined and robust basil I’ve ever encountered. We eventually distributed plants to the family and grew a few enormous bushes of it amongst the chillies, ready for Tomato Day.
Anyway, back to the chillies, make sure that your light’s going (for about 14 hours a day) as soon as your seedlings begin to sprout, and regularly mist the soil (no heavy watering) to keep it damp to the touch.
After a couple of weeks most of your seedlings should be sprouting (for chillies, most will be out after a week although some may take two). At this point I gradually introduced a little artificial wind to help the little guys prepare for life outside. Once they reach about 5cm with two sets of leaves, they’re ready to pot.
To help harden off our new chillies before moving them permanently out of the garage, the boys and I built a simple wooden frame (about 2 metres long) which we set on three sets of wheels (with a couple of brakes), with wire mesh stretched across the top. This let us set up a portable poly tunnel that could wheeled inside at night when it became too cold, and gradually opened up to the wind.
We carefully cut the sides of the jiffy pellet netting, and then potted the seedlings in premium organic potting mix to which we’d mixed through about 10% perlite and 10% vermiculite.
For reference, we used 17.5cm pots; to fill, it worked out as about one 25 litre bag of potting mix for every 10 pots, plus the perlite and vermiculite.
We crammed these cosily into the poly tunnel, and then spent about 3 weeks lovingly wheeling them in and out (lessening the time in) and gradually opening up the tunnel until it could be completely removed.
At this point we added a nice organic fertiliser, and gave a few of the high achievers their own stakes. Throughout this process, they should be getting two good soaks a day, but you may need to be gentle until they can hold their own against a toddler wielding a hose. Once they’re looking nicely upright, you can back off the water to give them a little heat, and once they’re all grown up it’s time to upsize the pot or stick them in the ground.
With our typical enthusiasm, we ended up with over one hundred potted seedlings (around 80 of them chillies) from our trial run, so once they began fruiting we sold off all but 1-2 of each variety, and recouped quite a bit of our expenses. All up, about 2.5 months from seedlings to harvest.
Of course, it wouldn’t be right to post all of this without a recipe. We love a good chilli sauce (check out our Tabasco Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Stracciatella and Roasted Tomatoes), and we love fermenting stuff, so here’s our home-grown fermented hot sauce.
Happy growing, and buon appetito,
– Al, Al, and El.
Equipment
- 1 litre preserving jar, optional airlock lid
- Bottles or jars for storage (this recipe produces around 600 ml of sauce)
Ingredients
- 220 g chillies
- 1/2 carrot sliced
- half small onion sliced
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
- 600 ml filtered water
- 20 g salt finely ground
- 100 ml white wine vinegar
- 100 ml apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Remove the stems of the chillies and loosely chop or blend. Slice the carrot, onion, and garlic.
- Transfer all chopped ingredients to a 1 litre jar. Stir the salt into the water until dissolved, and then pour until all ingredients are submerged. Weigh down the chopped ingredients using a pickling weight or small ziplock bag partially filled with water. Remove any seeds or other ingredients that have floated free to the surface. I recommend capping with a lid that can take a twin bubble airlock. This will allow bubbles to escape as it all ferments, without allowing anything into the jar from the outside. Alternatively, regularly burp your jar by carefully cracking the lid open every few days. Store in a cool, dark place (heat will interfere with the ferment).
- After 7 days, you should have a decent ferment. You can check for signs like bubbles, escaped liquid, and a cloudy brine. Successful fermentation creates an anaerobic environment, where only beneficial bacteria can survive; if you let oxygen in you may find unwanted bacteria have moved in (as well as missing out on vitamin-rich predigested carbohydrates, you could make yourself sick). So if no signs of fermentation are evident, you may want to discard and try again. Note that you can also ferment your sauce for another week or two if you prefer more complexity of flavour.
- When you’re ready to turn it into a sauce, drain out and retain the liquid. Thoroughly blend the chopped ingredients, add 50 ml of each vinegar, and slowly pour in the brine until it reaches a smooth consistency; this should take about 200 ml of liquid. Note you can vary the ratio of vinegars and brine to suit your taste. At this stage, add in any desired spices and herbs, or maple syrup if you’d like some sweetness to your sauce.
- For a thin sauce, strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, otherwise transfer to bottles and jars, and refrigerate. The low temperature will slow the ferment, but you will still need to occasionally burp it (although using it regularly will have the same effect). It should keep for months, if you can make it last that long.
- For a thick sauce as well as a thin sauce, blend the strained solids with the remaining 50 ml of each vinegar, and pour in the brine until it reaches your desired consistency. Bottle and refrigerate.
