Recently my dad gifted me a bottle of oil infused with ornamental peppers from his garden. Trey and I were so excited because we both like spicy foods and I cook with oil often.
My dad also hinted that this might make a good post for my blog. 😉
And I could not agree with him more.
So this is really his method, and he also shared a couple of resources with me (here).
All you need to throw one of these together is a glass bottle that can be sealed (like this one), 18-20 dry ornamental peppers, and about 1 cup of olive oil. You could easily recycle any glass bottle you have/collect. I used a reusable one I had on hand. Whatever you use, just be sure to clean it first.
Slice each pepper so that the insides and seeds are exposed. This is usually the hottest part of any pepper. I prefer to wear gloves when I work with any type of hot pepper. I just keep a small package of disposable gloves under my kitchen sink. I don’t use them often, but when I do need them they come in really handy (pun!!!!)
After cutting the peppers, add them to the jar and fill with olive oil. Allow that to soak for 2-3 days before use (or before you gift the bottle to someone).
As the peppers soak they will begin to sink to the bottom of the bottle. This is good! If you notice the peppers floating at the top are exposed (sticking out of the oil), be sure to add a little more oil or invert the bottle.
Exposed peppers can become moldy; this happened to the first bottle my dad gifted me before I realized this was the case. So make sure the peppers are fully submerged.
You can also snag a bottle of pepper oil already made or go for spicy chile pizza oil or an infused oil gift set if you are (or you know) an oil-loving kind of person—they really add so much to a dish!
Thanks for letting me share my dad’s latest pepper project. I just love these and think they make an awesome little handmade gift for this coming season. Yay, Dad! xo. Emma
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
Do you know what the shelf life of the hot pepper oil is? We just finished the growing season and would like to prepare jars for Xmas gifts for the kids.
Where can I get the bottles
Amazon 🙂
My oldest son will love this thank you, I’m putting the hot peppers that I grew in olive oil with garlic also. What did you redo and cooking with this ? Do you have recipes to share ? And how long is the shelf life for it ?
Do NOT add fresh garlic. Even refrigerated, it will only be good for a few days. You cannot infuse the oil with fresh garlic if you won’t be using it soon. Botulism will form.
I was just wondering how high to put the oven on.
I tried the Tabasco pepper in olive oil and it came out great i put some red bell peppers and some minces garlic.
Wow it is amazing the flavor it gave me .
Thank you for blogging this recipe.
Did you dry the peppers before infusing them?
I’d also like to know how your dad dries the peppers. Thanks! ????
I must make this for Christmas presents! Perfect! What is the shelf life for the oil?
How does he dry the peppers and for how long. Thanks
This sounds great! What a good idea for the holidays!
There is a lot of flavor …and heat… in the seeds so it’s best to leave them in.
The seeds just have a thin layer of heat on the surface of them. They are edible, just not hot or tasty. All the heat is in the membrane that holds the seeds. The “meat” or flesh of the pepper has some heat, but the bulk of the heat is in that membrane or white pith.
Pro tip: you can add other ingredients too to get a more elaborate flavor for your oil. I’d recommend garlic and rosemary <3
Best, Biene
lettersandbeads.de
Please be careful — adding garlic can contribute to botulism which is odorless, colorless, tasteless, and can be fatal. I don’t want to be a killjoy but making infused oils with fresh ingredients is very difficult to do safely and I don’t want anyone to get sick.
I ferment my peppers and garlic under salt for 2-3 days to kill them. Hope it works but I’m not dead yet sooo….fingers crossed.
This looks like a great gift for family friends. Not of expensive but still with some thought to it.
Are you going to be posting any recipes to go with this? That would be great.
This looks great! When my husband and I were in France, we notice that all the pizza places had this hot pepper oil that you could put on top. It was amazing and we were determined to figure out how to make it! Now I will!
I love spicy food too! This is a must try. Thanks to your dad and thank you for sharing!
https://annescribblesanddoodles.blogspot.com/
Any oil should be heated to 141 degrees. This insures against botulism! Be very careful with unheated oil products.
mmmmm! love this idea!
rae of love from berlin
Oh we’ll be back with it (probably next week). This week we launched our shop (go check!) so… we got busy. If only there were more hours in the day…
Glad you’re excited for scrapbook sundays though-that means a lot!
-Emma
What about scrapbook sundays??? I was really looking forward to it!
yum!
xx nikki
www.dream-in-neon.com
Looks delish! I’ve been wanting to make some infused oils, but I’m concerned they won’t last long. Any idea of the shelf life? Thanks!
Emily | http://faitboum.com
This is such a good idea!