[CH] oil based capsaicin extract
Mike Nestrud (pink@gehennom.net)
Mon, 31 Oct 2005 12:19:57 -0500
I picked the last coupla' pounds of habaneros from the garden at work
and have been working on an extract all weekend. This is the process
and some notes:
First I sliced the chiles really thin and put them in a freezer
overnight. Yesterday I added about 2-3c of canola oil to a pot, put
in the chiles, and brought it to a simmer and let it go until all the
water was gone. It has been steeping at around 170F ever since, while
being shut off last night when I went out.
The goal here is to get not sommuch flavor, but heat into that oil. It
is pretty hot at this point but not quite what I was expecting. Judging
the heat of the oil has its own problems though because I know I'm
desensitizing myself as I keep tasting it - so this morning I tasted
bout 2mL of the oil, and a few minutes later ate a whole wild brazil.
The heat is comparable.
I'm going to let it go about 4 more hours and then strain it, put it
back on the stove to simmer any remaining water out, and bottle it.
If I were to repeat the process I would use less oil. While it
wasn't even enough to cover the chiles to start, now that they're limp
and dehydrated I could have used less. I may even dehydrate them first
for the same reason. The other option I think would be to steep them in
batches in less oil, which if I can find another pound or two of habs at
the store I may do anyway to this batch.
Cheers,
-Mike
--
Teaching Assistant | "The solar garlic starts
American Bounty, CIA | to rot."
pink@gehennom.net |