the world's hottest chilli...

It may seem slightly unlikely, but the world's hottest chilli will soon be of Cumbrian descent. The current Guinness World Record for the hottest chilli is held by the Bhut Jolokia, at just over 1 million Scoville Heat Units (the unit refers to how many units of sugar water you have to add to one unit of pure chilli of whatever kind it may be, in order for a tasting panel of five people to no longer be able to detect the heat of the chilli). But that looks set to change, once Gerald Fowler of the Chilli Pepper Company in Cark has managed to replicate his new Trinidad Viper variety, which is a mix of a Trinidad Scorpion and a Red Savina chilli.

 "The key is to isolate the perfect new specimens, and stop them from cross pollinating with the other fruits on the same plant. I'm probably about a year off from having pure Trinidad Viper plants," says Gerald. Of course these particular chillies are not meant for human consumption - Gerald's main business is selling chilli seeds.

However, a few years ago he and his wife Diane diversified into food - making sauces, jams and chutneys using the chilli flesh from their own plants as well as other fresh ingredients.

Gerald's latest range is the Extreme Cooking sauces which you add to vegetables, meat or fish to make a delicious curry, as good as home made. In Cumbria, sauces and preserves from The Chilli Pepper Company are available at Plumgarths farm shop outside Kendal, or buy them online.

Content and photography supplied by artisan-food.com