#chilli tincture

The peppers are really coming along, both my Red & Tequila (purple) bell peppers and the Chillies, little show off from the Tomatoes & Rose bush as well

Little yellow guy - Basket of Fire chilli

Thicc boy- Cheyenne Chilli

Tomatoes- Shirley (the best don’t even fight me on it)

Long boy- Apache Chilli (only one I’ll be able to eat)

Plan is to make Chilli Tincture, Powder & Flakes, tincture/powder cause I used an organic pesticide once and felt guilty about it for a week (plus had noticeable drop in pollinators- luckily early on enough that it wasn’t too much stress on the plants) so need something to make my dads old garlic & chilli mix ready for next years crop

Plus like little bottle of chilli tincture in my girlies bags - you know in case the need to do some pest control in a pinch arises

Quetzalcoatl’s Cup

60ml blanco tequila (Olmeca Altos)

20ml chocolate liqueur (Mozart Dark)

10ml Campari

10 drops chilli tincture (Indigo Herbs)

2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura)

Stir all ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a flamed cinnamon stick.

With my birthday being this month and Min and I going on holiday, I’ve added a few extra bottles to my collection. Featuring in this is a gift from my mother, a bottle of Mozart Dark Chocolate Liqueur. Easy choice I suppose, considering my hobby and the fact I love dark chocolate.

I wanted something more interesting to do with it besides the obvious mixing with a brown spirit like whisky or rum, and settled on an Mexican/Aztec theme - chocolate, chilli and tequila. The Mayans were using chocolate to make beverages long before it was sold as a sweetened solid treat; mixing it with herbs and chillies. The Aztecs, I was amused to discover, believed chocolate was a gift from Quetzalcoatl - their creation deity - himself. I can believe it.

This is the recipe I’ve settled on for now. The first attempt, with an extra 2.5ml of Mozart and twice as many drops of chilli tincture (which is a little less than 1ml it turns out) and it was too chocolatey and too hot. This is about right: the tequila sits at the back, it’s salty freshness still present, while the dominant flavour is the chocolate. There’s a faint herbal element from the Campari and a kick from the chilli. The cinnamon stick (flamed with my new blowtorch, £12.99 from Lidl) adds the aromatics.

A sweet cocktail, but not too sweet. We’re going out tonight, which is a shame - I fancy another one.

Carter Beats the Devil

45ml reposado tequila (El Jimador)

15ml mezcal (Del Maguey Vida)

30ml lime juice

15ml Agave syrup (Clarks)

15 drops chilli tincture (Indigo Herbs)

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a lime twist.

I’ve never read the book - nor am I familiar with the man. With that out of the way, this is a great drink. I love mezcal: the smoke, the lightness of it, the production and history; I find the entire thing fascinating. The bottle of Vida I own was a present to myself at the beginning of my foray into the cocktail world and while admittedly I should have probably gotten to grips with simpler ingredients first I don’t regret it. It rivals my favourite whiskies for drinking neat.

Finding cocktails to use it in is a bit of a challenge however; as most of them also call for other niche ingredients - various amari and fancy syrups that I either can’t justify buying or can’t be bothered to make - so when I saw this on Imbibe it immediately went onto the list. The fact that it would be my first use of the chilli tincture (picked up from a local business in Glastonbury) was a bonus.

It does not disappoint. First, the mezcal’s smoke, followed swiftly by the richness of the tequila backed up by the agave syrup which also gives it a rich feel in the mouth. Any more and it would be too sweet (as it is I may drop it a touch in future) but it’s very well balanced. The cayenne heat hits the back of the throat with each swallow. I love this - but then I would.