Re: [CH] Spicing up liquor
Jonathan T. Smillie (jsmillie@protix.com)
Mon, 14 Sep 1998 19:17:22 -0500
At 05:45 PM 9/13/98 -0500, harryo@dave-world.net wrote:
>I put 2 ripe Red Savinas in a 1.75 liter bottle of Smirnoff vodka. I
>sampled it after one week and it already has a good hab flavor and
>pretty good heat. Can any of you that have done this tell me how
>long the flavor and heat will develop before reaching a peak?
Harry:
I would recommend extracting the chiles from the liquor after about 3-5 days, 1 week at most. Depending on the type and number of chiles used, the resultant heat will of course vary, but I don't think you get much out of a chile after that length of time, and indeed after that they can start to impart less-than-savory flavors, such as a slightly "skunky" taste- especially in tequila. You can maximize the heat extracted from each chile within a given period of time by either slicing them in half or cutting slits in them. Whether you leave the seeds in the chiles also has a lot to do with the resulting heat level.
Hope this helps,
Jonathan
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