How to use Scotch Bonnets

The Devil in Red, Green or Yellow!

For many years now I have been handling and consuming the scrumptious daddy of them all Scotch Bonnet chilli pepper.  I first became acquainted with these peppers when I was a young boy, about 6 or 7.  Every time my mum made her pepper pot soup.  When she was not looking I would grab a chair from around the table and push it up against the stove.  Ending up head over the pot and slowly inhaling the wonderful flavours.  I remember seeing those little peppers bobbing around in the pot, emitting its delectable aroma packed with flavour.

My mum did not like hot food however she would always buy her chillies.  She once explained that she loved the flavour not the heat.  She would put them in whole while cooking for a pacific amount of time, (that’s why they would float and bob around).  Controlling how much heat permeated our food, yet getting that wonderful flavour.

The Scotch Bonnet is the hottest chilli pepper, said to be 50 times hotter than a Jalapeño! It also yields the most flavour of all the chillies. The hottest part of the Scotch Bonnet is the membrane. The membrane houses the seeds, which is the second hottest. Then you have the flesh or skin which is the third hottest.

If you bare this in mind when using these peppers, and follow my tips below, you will be better able to control the heat it gives.

MILD

Once you have made your stew or curry drop a scotch bonnet in for around twenty minutes this will give you a wonderful aroma and incredible flavour.  For the least amount of heat leave the pepper whole making sure there are no splits or cuts.  Failure to remove the chilli after this short time, could result in it bursting and this will result in a very HOT dish!

MILD-MEDIUM

Cut a small Scotch Bonnet in half, making sure membrane and seeds are omitted. Finely chopped this will give you a dash of flavour and a light kick, nothing too distressing.

MEDIUM

Now take a whole Scotch Bonett, deseed and stem. This will give you bags of flavour and the heat will build as you eat. For someone who eats chillies on a regular basis, this is not too hot.

HOT

Take off the stem to throw away, then chop up chilli with seeds and membrane and add. This will lend you a very hot result. And can be most distressing to the uninitiated.

VOLCANIC

Use two whole chillies, take off stem then chop keeping seeds and membrane