Ten years ago heat seeker Chris Fowler could not buy fresh Jalapenos – now he farms more kinds of chilli than anyone in Britain.
The self-confessed chilli head has 300 different varieties and is at the centre of an “arm's race” to create the planet’s hottest peppers.
“If someone had said I would be doing this a decade ago I would have thought, ‘haha,’” the 43-year-old said.
Now he has 300 different kinds of plant and almost 1,000 types of seed.
“I often get asked what I love about chillis,” Chris said.
“Once people get a taste for them you can turn into what is known as a chilli head.
“Everything else tastes bland. It’s that way with me.
“I can’t eat anything unless it has got a bit of chilli in it.
“It’s a slippery slope. We could all end up with these farms,” he said.
Watch: Contestants sweat and struggle in a chilli eating competition:
This week Chris munched the “brutal” Carolina Reaper – currently the world’s hottest chilli, rated at 2.2 million Scoville units.
This is the scale used to rank the fruit’s heat. A Jalapeño is between 2,500 and 8,000 Scoville units.
“I started hiccuping straight away,” Chris said.
Chris – whose brother Pete illustrates Super Furry Animals’ album sleeves – grows his plants at Cardiff’s Cefn Mably farm.
“The owner of Cefn Mably and his wife did not even have a sweat on,” Chris said.
“Maybe I had a bigger chunk, but I was impressed.”
He has tried the Reaper before.
“I’ve quite a high chilli tolerance from growing them and eating them with everything,” Chris said.
“It tasted quite fruity because it is from the family Capsicum chinense. All the world’s hottest chillis come from that.”
Ghost chillis, Scotch Bonnets and Habaneros are from the same group.
“Even with the hottest chilli in the world I was straight away getting the flavour,” Chris, from Cardiff, said.
“Then the heat started kicking in. I only ate a tiny two-to-four millimetre wide, by an inch long, sliver.
“If I had eaten the whole thing It would have been a case of, ‘pass me the milk.’”
Milk neutralises the heat. Even with a tiny piece Chris’ gob was ablaze for half-an-hour.
“If I’d eaten the whole thing it would have been hours,” he said.
His chilli mission began in 2004.
“I got into it because I had never eaten a fresh Jalapeño chili,” Chris said.
“So I grew one myself. That was ten years ago.
“Now I’ve 300 different types of chilli and probably the largest collection of varieties in the UK.
“I have a seed bank of 700 different varieties.”
Chilli farmers are competitive.
“What’s happening in the chilli world is like an arms race with people crossing things and getting super hot varieties,” Chris, who runs a stall at Cardiff’s Riverside Market, said.
It’s not all about fiery ones.
“I’ve ones like that which have all the flavour but are not that hot,” said Chris.
“I have got these rare breeds that have all the flavour and just a touch of heat in the background but nothing that is going to burn you as you speak.
“I don’t just cater for people who want to blow their faces off. I’ve got something for everyone.”
He has grown “some really rare ones” and created his own versions of already blistering plants.
“The Bubble Gum Seven Pot (BB7P) was created by a guy in the UK by crossing two ultra-hot varieties,” Chris said.
At 1.4 million Scoville units they are as hot as Naga Ghost Chillis.
Uniquely, on ripening red the BB7P’s stem changes colour too.
“My friend in Cornwall has crossed the Bubblegum Seven Pot with the Cornish Naga and as a result he has got a really cool type.
“I’m one of two people he has shared them with. I’ve two plants in my polytunnel.”
One has mutated.
“It’s a cross with something else,” Chris said.
“It produces super-hot yellow pods. I’ve got the only one of those in the planet.
“People have been asking for seeds from all over the globe.”
The end of the season is approaching. Chris has two freezers full of chillis to turn into sauce during the winter.
He’s made seven bottles from the Bubblegum Seven Pot.
“That’s for personal use,” he said.
