Search Results

Ingredients

To make ten cornflour tortillas, you will need one cup of instant gluten free masa corn flour, three-quarters of a cup of hot tap water and a third of a teaspoon of salt.

Method

Before beginning  to make the tortillas cut the plastic into two disks the same size as the tortilla press. These will prevent the dough from sticking to the press .  Use the thickest plastic you have.

1. To make the tortillas mix all the ingredients together and knead until you have reached a dough the consistency of play-dough. Add more water or flour as the case may be to achieve this
2. Place a damp kitchen towel over the dough and let it prove for twenty to thirty minutes.
3.  Divide the dough  into pieces  about an ounce in weight. Roll into balls
4. Line the bottom of the press with one round of plastic. Place a dough ball on top of this. Flatten the ball slightly with the palm of your hand. Now place the other round of plastic on top of that. Top it with the other round .
5. Clamp the two halves of the tortilla press together. The press will flatten the dough into a  perfectly round tortilla
6. Remove from the press and lift the tortilla from the plastic pieces into the palm of your hand.
7. Heat the pan and drop the tortilla while holding it palm up into it, starting with one edge and then slowly lowering the rest of the tortilla until the pan until it lies flat in the pan. Be careful to do this in fluid motion as otherwise, the tortilla will stick to the pan.
8. Cook for about 30 to forty-five seconds and then flip with a spatula.
9. Cook for another sixty seconds and then flip again. The tortilla will start to bubble and rise. Press down on the tortilla with the spatula once or twice to pop the bubbles. Cook for about thirty  seconds and flip for the last time.
10. Press down the tortilla with the spatula again. Little brown spots will appear after a couple of seconds.
11. Remove from the pan and place into a dish that has been lined with a napkin. Wrap the napkin over the tortilla
12. Continue to make the rest of the tortillas and place them one on top of the other in the dish, stacking and wrapping them with the napkin as you go.
13. Once the tortillas have all been cooked, leave them wrapped in the napkin for fifteen to twenty minutes. This will make the tortillas soft and moist. For best results, allow cooling to room temperature

Wheat Flour Tortillas

How I use Chilli Focus

Chilli Focus is a liquid fertilizer I use to fertilise my Chillies at various stages in their development. I first use it when my seedlings have developed their true leaves. At this point, I pot on the seedlings into two-inch pots. I use my own potting mixture for potting on. The dosage I use for the seedlings at this stage in their development is 2.5 millilitres per litre of water. This is all the seedlings need, as they are still quite small. In addition to the nutrients Chilli Focus provides, the seedling also absorbs nutrients from the potting mixture.

I continue feeding the plants at this dosage until they need to be potted on again. This is when they have reached the same size as their pot. The same size as pot rule then applies, and I pot them into the next size up container

It is at this point that I up  the dosage of Chilli Focus to 5 ml per litre of water.  I water the seedlings with this strength solution every second watering.  This continues until the seeds have been transplanted into one lite container and ready to be hardened off.

After hardening off, I switch other fertilizers, as I believe they do a better job. The manufacturers claim you can use Chilli Focus right through the season without switching. They recommend changing the dosage to ten millilitres of Chilli Focus at the first sign of buds. They claim this dosage will be enough fertilisation to support the plant through blooming and fruiting

I am not saying this is wrong. However, when I compare the NPK of the fertilizer I switch to at this stage, there really is no comparison. At 10 millilitres per litre, Chilli focus has an NPK of roughly 5.5: 2: 8.8. The fertilizer I use has an NPK of 15 -15 -30. In my opinion, the higher phosphorus and potash content make all the different in encouraging blooming and fruit set

Final thoughts

I cannot recommend Chilli Focus highly enough for use until hardening off. It does a good job. So much so, I have written a page about it without any invitation from the manufacturers. The page was written of my own volition as a recommendation to help other Chilli growers. I believe it definitely improves Chilli growing.  Unless something else comes to my attention, Chilli Focus will be my standard for the purpose mentioned

The same size as pot rule

Determining the best time to pot Chillies on can be done using the same size as pot rule. The basic principle of this rule is that when a plant reaches the same height as the pot, it should be potted on into the next size of container up.   The reason for doing this is to develop a plant’s root ball.  It is a rule that takes the guesswork out of deciding when a plant should be repotted.

For example, once a seedling has germinated, once it develops its first set of true leaves, it should be transplanted into a plastic or fibre pot approximately 50mm high.  Once a plant reaches two inches in height, it should be potted on into a 75 or 80mm plastic or fibre pot.  The best time to pot on Chillies is definitely a month or two after they have germinated.  This is a crucial time in the seedlings development, and will determine how robust the plant will be. After that, plants should be transplanted into 130 cm (one litre) pots. The 130 mm pots can usually only be found in plastic.

It is at this stage that I stop potting on until the plant has been hardened off. The seedling will have reached the same size at this pot (or even taller) at the hardening off stage. However, it is best to restrict potting on at this time, so that the plants can completely develop their root balls.

After hardening off

Final potting on

After hardening off, the plant will be transferred to a bigger container.  This will be the container where the plant will spend the rest of the season. The container should  big enough to cater for the final size that the plant will grow to when it reaches maturity. The size of these pots may range from two litres to over 50 litres

In some dwarf varieties, the pot size may be as small as 2 litres (or even just kept in its one litre pot). However, when growing Chillies like Rocotos, you need a bathtub, barrel, or heavy pot of fifty litres (or more). A Rocoto can grow to over five feet tall and have a spread of over six feet (two meters). Placing it into anything smaller or lighter would have the wind toppling it over all the time.

To determine how big a plant will grow, do some research before starting. In my case, I rarely go above twenty-five litres irrespective of the variety.  By limiting pot size, it is a way to restrict growth. This will allow you to control the size to which plants will grow. In my instance, this is necessary, as otherwise my backyard would be overrun with Chillies. I often grow over fifty plants in any season.

I grow only in pots, but the same principle can be used for planting directly into the soil. Pot your seedlings on until they reach one litre pots. Allow the root all to develop until hardening off (in about May). Harden the plants off in the one litre pots, and then plant out into your garden or allotment. Make sure your fertilization is correct, and the plants will fly!

Finally

So what sizes are pots available in?  This useful guide will help in that regard. The list, however, only starts at 90mm. Sizes below are 50 mm and 75 mm pots, which are used in the first and second potting’s on.