Zutaten
- 15 Sugar Rush Stripey chillies
- 1 litre water
- 1,300 g sugar (up to 1,700 g sugar, see tips)
Zubereitung
Method
- Halve the chillies and remove the seeds and the seed pod.
- Bring the water to the boil with 1,000 g sugar and simmer briefly.
- Put the chillies into a large, heatproof jar and pour the boiling-hot syrup over them.
- Repeat the next step 3 times:
- After 24 hours, drain through a sieve and catch the syrup in a pot.
- Bring the syrup back to the boil with a further 100 g sugar.
- Pour the syrup back over the chillies in the jar, let it cool, then store covered in the fridge for a further 24 hours.
- Drain again, add 100 g sugar, bring to the boil, pour back over, and repeat once more after 24 hours.
- In total, the process is repeated 3 times, adding 300 g sugar altogether.
- Drain on a wire rack and dry in the oven at 110°C fan for about 15-20 minutes.
- Tips:
- For thick-fleshed chillies, the drain-add sugar-pour cycle can be repeated up to 7 times. You'll need 100 g sugar per cycle, so up to 700 g on top of the initial kilogram.
- The hotter the chilli, the harder it is to eat. It's best to start with a mild chilli. Note: you shouldn't mix varieties, since the heat spreads through the hot syrup. Use separate jars for candying instead.
EIN PAAR WEITERE TIPPS FÜR DICH
Why Candied Chillies Need Several Sugar Baths
Candied chillies combine sweetness and heat in a texture reminiscent of candied fruit – a process that takes patience rather than effort, since the real work happens over several days in the fridge.
Why the Syrup Is Concentrated in Stages
A single, highly concentrated sugar syrup would draw water out of the chillies too quickly and leave an uneven texture. The repeated cycles of draining, adding more sugar and pouring the syrup back instead draw the sugar gently into the flesh in several stages.
Thick-Fleshed Varieties Need More Cycles
The thicker the chilli's flesh, the more repetitions are needed for the sugar to reach the core – for thick-fleshed varieties, up to seven rounds instead of the usual three is realistic.
Sugar Rush Stripey as the Ideal Variety
Sugar Rush Stripey naturally brings a fruity sweetness that complements the candying process particularly well, embedding the chilli heat into a pleasant overall picture rather than drowning it out.
Why Varieties Shouldn't Be Mixed
Since the heat spreads through the hot syrup to every chilli in the same jar, varieties with different heat levels should be candied in separate jars – otherwise the hottest variety ends up dominating the flavour of all of them.
The Brief Drying at the End
The final drying at a low fan-oven temperature removes the remaining surface moisture and gives the typical slightly sticky, but not wet, texture of candied fruit.
You'll find Sugar Rush Stripey chillies for this recipe in our Heat Level 4-7 category.