Preparing Garlic & Chillies

Garlic

If you hold the whole round bulb of garlic in your hand, you will notice that it has a stalk and root, top and bottom, and
a thin dry papery skin.
As you examine it, you will feel that the bulb is divided into segments, (cloves).
When the skin is peeled away, the cloves will come away from the stalk quite easily.
Pull off as many as you need and keep the garlic bulb, still in its
outer papery skin in a dry cool place, as you would onions for example.
Each of the cloves is also covered in this fine skin.
You can either pick at the skin where it was attached to the stalk of the bulb to remove it, or buy one of
these very clever garlic peelers, rubber tubes, which, very easily, remove it for you.

If you have one of these, put the cloves you are going to use
inside it, place it on a firm surface, apply a bit of pressure, then roll it
backwards and forwards.
The garlic will crackle, and when you take it out, the
skin will be left behind inside the tube.
Now, finely chop the garlic cloves to use in your recipes.

Preparing Chillis

Chillies are smaller versions of peppers, except they are often long and thin, varying in their intensity of
flavour according to the variety.
They are used to add flavour or (a hot or very hot) intensity) to many dishes such as Chilli con Carne.
Remove the stalk and seeds as for peppers and chop into tiny pieces ready to flavour your
recipe, but don’t, whatever you do, be tempted to rub your eyes during the
preparation process, if you do their will be severe irritation, your eyes will
run and you may experience pain and discomfort, for quite some time.