Newcastle, Norwich, Brighton, Swansea and – as of this year – Warwick all share at least one thing in common when it comes to fresh produce, in that they all host chilli-eating festivals.
The cult of the ‘chilli heads’ shows no signs of waning, with festivals across the UK staged to celebrate the fiery pepper becoming bigger by the year, and with new such events springing up all the time.
Of course, a lot of the popularity stems from the fact that the human race loves a bit of one-upmanship – riding the scariest rollercoaster, pumping the heaviest ‘iron’ in the gym, or, as in Donald Trump’s case, proving to the electorate that you have the largest hands in the US presidential primaries. And eating chillies that are so hot you need a team of paramedics on stand-by to win a competition is no exception.
In fact, when Barfoots featured on primetime BBC TV show Harvest at the end of last year, part of the feature on the business saw Barfoots’ production manager Tom Lapraik sample the UK-grown 1,000,000 Scoville scale Brain Strain chilli on air. By way of comparison, a Jalapeno chilli measures between 3,000 to 8,000 Scovilles on this heat-measuring scale.
UK-produced chillies – grown in Bedfordshire, Jersey and West Sussex – received a boost last year when Sainsbury’s committed to stocking 100 per cent red and green chillies from the summer until the end of the extended season in September 2015. The quality of this season’s crop is looking promising too, as Lapraik notes: “The success of Barfoots Cropping’s first year of UK chilli production has set high expectations across the board for 2016, with overall production volumes, quality standards and length of growing season exceeding forecasted figures.”
The turnaround period over the winter saw a number of improvements to Barfoots’ UK chilli production site to accommodate the business’ 80 per cent increase in density of cut-fruit production for 2016. This included modernising and increasing the capacity of the irrigation system, and implementing new climate control strategies, and on top of that, Barfoots has introduced thermal screening inside the glasshouse to achieve energy savings and reduce heat loss, as well as to encourage faster rooting of the new plants. It is hoped that the screening will also enhance fruit quality, shape and size.
In the wholesale sector, Peter Durber, of New Spitalfields Market-based business Tropifresh, says Habañero peppers from key supply region Uganda have been selling strongly, despite weather conditions stunting the growth of some of the crop.
In foodservice, Mexican food – synonymous with the use of chillies – is ‘on trend’, with restaurant chain Wahaca continuing its rapid expansion across the UK. This ties in with a recent study of 2,000 Brits conducted by research agency Future Thinking, which found that Mexican cuisine (30 per cent) leads the way in terms of the UK’s experimentation with new food cultures, pipping Moroccan cuisine (27 per cent) to the post.
As well as the same commercial varieties as last year, Barfoots is growing several of last year’s trial crops commercially this year. These include the yellow Aji Amarillo, and other Habañero and Scotch Bonnet varieties. NPD scheduled for this year includes trials of growing a chilli that is even hotter than the Brain Strain. Chilli heads, watch this space.
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