It is always going to see chillies in the news. The BBC is running a story today about a delegation of 7 US Senators that have traveled to the Arctic Archipelago to bury chilli seeds 500 feet under a mountain.

image by Pierre J.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust runs a facility in the Arctic that aims to store a huge library of seed from over half a million of the worlds crops. The idea being that should a huge natural (or man made) disaster strike and decimate the US’s plant population.

The US Department of Agriculture has produced the seeds which will be stored 500 feet under the mountain and preserved at at -18C (-0.4F). You can checkout the the full story here.

I’ve not heard of two of the varieties mentioned in the article (Wenk’s Yellow Hots & San Juan Tsil from New Mexico) but it would be good to know some more about why they chose these varieties. Let us know in the comments below if you have tried either of these varieties.

With Christmas fast approaching the annual scratching of heads and wondering what presents to buy your family and friends begins. We’ve tried to help this year by selecting our top 10 presents for the chilli addicts in your life. If you are stuck for ideas this year you’re sure to find some hot inspiration below!

1. Chilli Growing Kit

These little chilli growing kits make great stocking fillers. Whether you are buying for a seasoned chilli growing professional or a complete newbie these kits are a great fun and easy way to grow edible chilli peppers with minimal fuss or mess. Great for kids and adults alike!

Inside is everything you need to grow your own chillies next year (not just one but 5 varieties!). Inside you get 5 varieties of seeds, pots, compost, labels and and information booklet full of advice and tips to help you grow them.

Once you get one be sure to check out our chilli growing guides to make sure you look after your chilli plants as well as possible.

2. Chilli King T-Shirt

Do you have a Chilli King in your family? Or maybe someone that thinks they are?! If you do then one of our famous chilli king T shirts would make the perfect stocking filler.

We stock various sizes (S,M,L,XL) and ship the same day. Click here to buy one now.

3. Chilli Lights for the Xmas Tree

If you want to spice up your Christmas then these chilli pepper fairy lights are a great way to add some heat to the festivities in your house.

Whether you use them at Christmas to help light up the Christmas tree or throughout the year to decorate your home and provide some ambient lighting these fairy lights make a great subtly addition to any home. Ours never fail to grab the attention of guests when they see out christmas tree!

Each set measure over 2m in length (perfect for the xmas tree) and contains 20 individual chilli pepper lights.

Note: For indoor use only!

4. Chilli Pepper Jigsaw

This is the ideal christmas present to help you keep the family chilli head entertained for a few hours. This 300 piece chilli jigsaw (measuring 48cm x 30cm) is not the easiest to complete, it kept us going at Chilliking HQ for far longer than we anticipated!

You’ve probably seen baked bean jigsaws before, well this is the chilli version. It’s best to try and complete this jigsaw sitting down because after a while looking at all of the pieces you can get a bit dizzy!

Note: This will keep your kids and chillihead quiet for hours on Christmas Day!

5. Dwarf Chilli Pepper Plant

Not only do these little chilli pepper plants look great but they produce fully edible Apache chillies. The plants come in a stylish metal pail making them ideal house plants. Forget about buying your loved one roses, she’ll much prefer one of these cute little chilli plants!

Contrary to what many people believe chilli plants (especially compact varieties such as apache) make ideal house plants. So long as you have a warm windowsill these little plants should make it through until next summer no problem!

6. Chilli Pepper Apron

These great chilli aprons are made from 100% cotton and are ideal for the budding chilli chef. Complete with a front pocket and adjustable neck tie this chilli apron will help protect your clothes from that bubbling hot pot of chili con carne!

These aprons are fully machine washable and make a great addition to any chilli heads wardrobe so why not buy one for the chilli head in your life!

Note: Next time you get told off for making a mess when sorting out your chilli harvest you can simpley point and smile at the apron!

7. Chilli Pepper Magnetic Fridge Pen

This is a great stocking filler for any spice addict in your life. This magnetic fridge pen is ideal to keep on the fridge and use to make vital shopping lists.

Once you’ve got one of these you’ll never forget to buy that bottle of tabasco from the supermarket again!

In fact we were so impressed we bought a few of these: our best use so far has to be in the car where it sticks nicely to the inside of the door panel!!

8. Chilli Pepper Storage Jar

Designed by Stefano Giovannoni these spice storage jars are a superb way to correctly store your harvested chillies.

Thanks to the translucent design and cute little chilli pepper sitting on top you’ll never forget which jar in the cupboard has your chillies in it again.

We liked these jars so much we bought a few of them and use them not just for our dried chillies in the kitchen but also to store our chilli seeds in! They are ideal for this as they keep the moisture and extreme temperatures away from the delicate seeds.

9. Chilli Pepper Mill

We wrote about the popularity of these chilli flake grinders on the blog back in September.

These mills are made by the renowned manufacturer Cole & Mason who offer a lifetime guarantee on all of their products.

This particular type differs from your regular salt and pepper mill as it sits upside down on your table.

Made from high quality crystal clear acrylic with a red soft touch band and with an easily adjustable ceramic spring loaded mechanism this makes a stylish yet practical addition to any table.

Note: Definitely looks a bit smarter than an old bottle of tabasco sitting on the dinner party table!

10. Chilli Drier / DehydratorPepper Mill

Last but by no means least our these great Food Deydrators. If you are serious about preserving your chillies then why not treat yourself to one of these contraptions.

Drying chillies can be a tricky process risking either mould and rotting fruit if done in natural air or burning them to a crisp if using the oven. Drying chillies with one of these dehydrators could not be simpler. Simple load up the trays, switch it on and come back in a few hours.

Now is the time to start planning which chillies you are going to grow in 2009 and we are pleased to offer a selection of chilli seeds for sale online. As an added bonus we are offering free postage and packaging on all orders within the United Kingdom.

Over the coming months we’ll be increasing the number of chilli related offerings available online, so be sure to check out the online shop from time to time. As you’d expect all payments are secure and all you need to get started is an active paypal account. Happy shopping!

BUY CHILLI SEEDS NOW

Most people know that having a higher metabolism means you burn more calories. 

But what exactly is metabolism? Metabolism is the amount of energy (measured in calories) that your body burns in order to maintain itself. Every individual’s metabolism is dependant on a huge number of variables such as their fat to muscle ratio, body weight, fitness, diet etc. Roughly speaking if you burn more calories each day that you consume over time you will lose weight.

Muscle is known to burn more calories in order to sustain itself than fat so roughly speaking the fitter you are, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories your body will burn. This is why people exercise to help lose weight.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to raise your metabolism without all the hard work in the gym? Well eating chillies have been shown by several studies to raise you metabolism by as much as 20%. So maybe chillies are the new super food that can help you lose weight.

Well before you get too excited eating chillies only raises your metabolism for a very short period of time so the overall effect of extra calories burnt per day is not huge from ‘normal chilli consumption’. In order to eat enough chillies to make a big increase in the calories you burn every day you’d need to eat such huge quantities that you would most probably damage your stomach!

So as with all things diet related the boring advice of taking regular exercise and eating a healthy balanced diet holds true once more. However it would be fair to say that chillies will help a little in the battle against the bulge!

A big thank you to all those of us that came to see The Chilli King stand at the Grand Designs Live show. It was great to put a face to many of the names we’ve seen in emails over the last few month.

What surprised us most about the show was the huge interest that exists in growing chillies, even at a non horticultural show like Grand Designs Live. It seemed that the vast majority of people we spoke to had tried to grow their own hot peppers at some point in the last couple of years. Despite not being the best year weather-wise here in the UK to grow chillies it was great to hear that so many of you had had a successful crop.

And of course for those that haven’t done so well this year it was good to hear that on the whole you’re determined to not give up and try again next year! If you purchased some of our seeds be sure to check out our articles on growing chillies.

We’d like to thank SolarDome for allowing us to share one of their fabulous glass domes at the show. If you were watching TV in the eighties/nineties yes this is the same company that made the infamous Crystal Maze domes, the only difference being this one wasn’t filled with gold and silver tokens but chillies!

If you have been inspired by our site to start growing your own chillies then you should come down to the National Exhibition Center (NEC) at Birmingham between Friday the 10th & Sunday the 12th of October 2008. We have been invited to exhibit at the Grand Designs Live exhibition hosted by non other than the Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud.

Grand Designs Live is the UK’s no. 1 consumer show for anyone who has an interest in design, build, interiors, shopping, home wares, gardens, kitchens & bathrooms, and innovation. The Grand Designs team wanted to spice up the show this year and so have invited the Chilli King along to brighten the place up with colorful chillies.

We will be taking along a huge selection of chilli plants which will be available for sale. You will also be able to sample & buy some yummy chilli jellies, jams, chutneys & sauces as well as being able to stock up hot pepper seeds ready for the new growing season.

We will be located in the Garden Hall at stand G320 which is one of four giant dome glass houses.

If you want to come and visit us at the show just click the banner below and you will receive a £6 discount on your ticket. See you there!

If you ask anyone why chilli peppers are hot you will usually be greeted with a long pause and a scratch of the head. Having hot fruit, and seeds in particular is rather counter intuitive from a evolutionary perspective.

It is generally accepted that plants produce nice tasty colorful fruit to attract and encourage animals to eat them and spread their seeds allowing the plant species to spread. So why then do chillie plants encase their seeds in capsaicin (the chemical that produces the heat in peppers) that will put off all but the most determined or hungry of animals?

Well researches from the National Academy of Sciences think they have finally solved the mystery.

Firstly it should be noted that the various species of chillie plants out there have been able to survive and spread thanks to the inability of most species of birds to detect the heat present in capsaicin. Secondly it seems that capsaicin is produced to help plants prevent the fungus Fusarium. Fusarium is the biggest cause of seed mortality in the wild and therfore the heat produced by chili plants is simple their evolutionary way to protect their seeds.

I’ve just read (I’m shamed to say on the daily mails website) that retail giant Tesco is going to start stocking the “Dorset Naga”, what some consider to be the worlds hottest chillie (although I beleive the official record is held by the bhut jolokia from India). This is surely the clearest sign yet that chillies really are hitting the mainstream. It was not long ago that you were hard pressed to find any varieties of chili in big supermarkets chains. Recently many have started branching out from the generic “Low, Medium or Hot” types many sell and are regularly stocking different varieties such as Jalapeno, Scotch Bonnet, Habanero, or Birds Eye.

What is more interesting is that the article states that Brits spent over £9 million on chillies in 2007. This is clear proof that chillie pepper culture is now in the mainstream. For a country known for it’s bland cuisine by it’s European neighbours that is not bad.

It will be interesting to hear about the inevitable complaints from customers that buy a pack of nagas and casually toss them in their evening stew, thinking they are nothing special. Not many people will be aware that these babies are about 100 times hotter than your average Jalapeno pepper. When this happens no doubt the mail will follow up with a suitably scare mongering article about how these killer chillies are the biggest threat to Britain since Sangat!