So...here is the result of my latest chilli experiment. We visited my cousin in NYC earlier in the year. He introduced me to a beautiful chilli oil called Akabanga from Rwanda. I fell in love instantly. It comes in a 20ml bottle with a dropper and you apply 4-5 drops to your food. No more. It's hot but not too hot. Delicious. Given I was growing a lot of chillis myself I figured I really ought to figure out how to make it.
The only clue that I could find to how it was made was on this website: https://www.afrolink.co.uk/product-page/akabanga-chilli-oil-product-of-rwanda. It says The recipe consists of 80 percent yellow chilli pepper (scotch bonnet) extract and 20 percent olive oil. Hmm, how do you get an extract of chilli peppers? I found this site that explained how to extract pure capsaicin from chillis: https://italianchilli.com/en/content/22-how-to-extract-pure-capsaicin-from-chillies
Yes, I know that capsaicin is murderously potent and has to be treated with respect but I could not resist the challenge.
Started with some 95 proof alcohol that we bought in Italy in order to make limoncello. (Drop all your preconceptions, home made limoncello using Amalfi lemons is a revelation.)
Per the recipe, I whizzed a load of chillies, mixed them in with the alcohol and let stand for three days. I then strained through a 250 micron and then 50 micron bag.
They said to wait for the alcohol to evaporate. I soon realised that was going to take too long. I consulted some websites and found one that explained how to evaporate alcohol from tinctures of cannabis. Simple solution. I put the bowl in my water bath and heated the water up to 81C, just above the boiling temperature for alcohol. Here it is, starting to coagulate as the temperature rose.
I now have this sticky residue. It is hard to believe that this is the fearsome capsaicin. It smells lovely and sweet, not hot at all. That said, I stuck a toothpick in and tasted the liquid off the end of the toothpick. It was very hot. Not to be messed with. I am planning to dissolve this extract in oil (1:15 is the only measure I have been able to find online so far) and then dispense it from little 15 ml bottles with a pipette. To build the flavour profile I'll use extra virgin olive oil flavoured by slow cooking onions, garlic and peppers in it this morning.
All of that said, there is no way that a factory in a village in Rwanda went to these lengths to make chilli oil! This lady from Cameroon has a much more down to earth method which I will try with my next harvest of chillis.