Chillies

Chilli growing is a substantial and much loved part of Creek well farm life. We grow the little blighters by the thousand, we love them, we can’t get enough to tell you the truth. Grown here in the Fens area on some of the best soil in the UK, these chilies are nurtured until ripe and then hand picked at their peak. Good old fashioned hands on TLC keeps these little hotties in tip top condition.

We’ve been growing for quite a few years and have many a tale to tell. So if you’re  new to chilies and want help drop on to the forum and ask away. If you’re an old hand we’d be glad to have your tips, come on and tell us your favourite varieties and how you use them.

A  brief chilli history

Archaeologists think that the Peruvians and the Mexicans ate chilli's as early as 7000BC and by 5000BC they were being cultivated. By 2500BC an enormous range of chilli's varying in colour, shape and heat were grown throughout South America. It was even used as a type of currency (if only!)

Chilli peppers were discovered around 1492 by Columbus in the Caribbean, he incorrectly named them a pepper believing they were related to the plant that produces black pepper. Diego Alvarez Chanca a physician on Columbus' second voyage is credited with introducing the chilli peppers to Ecillle in Spain, here it was regarded as the new form of pepper, hotter and stronger than the familiar type and spread rapidly throughout the continent. In Spain the heat was bred out of chilli's making them larger and sweeter.

Diego Alvarez Chanca first wrote about there medicinal properties in 1494

In 1902 Wibur Scoville pioneered a method for gauging how hot a chilli was by putting a value to the strength of capsaicin in any given pepper. Capsaicin is the potent chemical that causes the fiery sensation in chilli's, it survives both heating and freezing, after it has removed the lining of your mouth and destroyed a few taste buds it triggers the brain to produce endorphins, these are natural painkillers which promote a feeling of well being.

The Scoville scale starts at nought with mild bell peppers It swiftly moves on with Jalapeno with a range between 2500 to 5000 Scoville units; Cayenne and pequin around 30 000 to 50 000 units, while the habernero which rates as one of the hottest chilli's somewhere between 200 000 to 300 000 units. Nowadays readings are taken more accurately by computer but they still use the Scoville units. The world's current record holder is the Naga.

In 2005 at New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Professor Paul Bosland found Naga Jolokia grown from seed in southern New Mexico to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 scoville's, more than twice the rating of the previous record holder the red savina habanero. In February 2007, Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolokia as the world's hottest chili pepper.The effect of climate on the Scoville rating of Naga Jolokia peppers is dramatic. A 2005 Indian study that compared the percentage availability of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in Naga Jolokia peppers grown in both Tezpur (Assam) and Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) showed that the heat of the pepper is decreased by over 50% in Gwalior's more arid climate (similar temperatures but less humid, much lower rainfall).

Chilli Health

In its green state chilli's are loaded with vitamin A, which is a powerful antioxidant and boost the immune system. It also contains high levels of vitamin C almost twice as much as citrus fruits. When dried the vitamin A content increases a hundred fold. As it matures and darkens towards its final colour, red, orange, yellow etc the high quantities of vitamin C are replaced with beta carotene and the chilli's heat is at its maximum level. Its low in fat, calories and cholesterol, so if you are diabetic or on a diet your food need not be boring. Add pepper flakes to your food to spice it up or add jalapeno's to your salad; as capsaicin is thought to speed up the metabolic rate you may burn up more calories and lose weight faster.

The chilli "bite" or heat comes from Capsaicin which is found in the white veins or pith and seeds. This burning sensations sends urgent messages to the brain and triggers an endorphin release which triggers a pleasurable response. this has been likened to the same response you get from vigorous exercise, if you don't exercise the feeling you get after sex; and if you don't do that I can't help you, just eat a hot chilli and you'll get the idea!

Capsaicin
a) improves digestion by stimulating gastric juices
b) has a laxative effect
c) gives you a high by releasing endorphins
d) unblocks stuffy noses and sinuses by irritating the mucus membranes
e) lowers cholesterol and helps ward of strokes and heart attacks.

Many lotions, potions, creams and elixirs have used capsaicin as a major ingredient for pain relief for years. Which have been used to treat shingles, neuralgia, arthritis, sports injuries and other kinds of joint or muscular pain.