David W.E. Roberts wrote:

[snip]


Q1 - do chillis need a consistent temperature or minimum light level to keep
growing over winter, or could I still be picking chillis in February?


I have heard they will keep on flowering. I don't think the fruits will
come to much though.

I have looked at recipe and storage suggestions and favour the 'just stick
them in the freezer' method.
However, the peppers seem to be covered in a variety of very small bugs, so
I don't fancy freezing them without some kind of cleansing.

I think I will blanche them in boiling water for a very short while, rinse
them in cold, dry and freeze most of them and put the rest is olive oil.

Q2 - I read also of the dangers of oil based preserves - botulism etc. - so
will blanching help this in any way? Will freezing then popping the frozen
chillis into oil help or just make things worse?

The blanching and freezing is a good idea. If you are going to put them
in oil, I would follow a method using a water bath to heat the oil up as
well as the chillis, and then seal the jars really well. I didn't take
the risk this year, and instead I'm experimenting with drying my
chillis. I dried some in a very low oven, which worked well, and I've
got others on strings drying in a sunny porch. These haven't rotted yet
and seem to be drying OK.