Long time, no see

Well it's fair to say that there hasn't been an update to this blog for a while. 

There are lots of excuses I could trot out but the long and the short of it is that there hasn't been much to report.

Way back in March I admired my chilli seedlings, spoke encouraging words to them, patted them gently and then deserted them for close on a month. 

Upon my return from the somewhat sunnier climes of India, (complete with a bag of local chillies) I found the horticultural equivalent of a massacre. Over half of my precious seedlings had died. Even my mature plants, carefully overwintered had taken a beating. The scotch bonnets and nagas were infested with greenfly and despite root-to-root resuscitation eventually joined the compost-heap in the sky. 

Some of the surviving superhots

Some of the overwintered chillies in the hothouse

Why this is, I don't honestly know. The plants had been sprayed several times with organic pesticide but after a brief respites, the greenfly returned. The traditional remedy of spraying with soapy water only produced squeaky-clean aphids so finally I turned to a more rudimentary and brutal solution. I simply took the plants outside and blasted with a hosepipe on a fine spray. As unscientific as this drastic remedy might be, it not only removed the live aphids but also removed dying or dead leaves and cleared off the sticky residue that aphids leave behind which can inhibit photosynthesis. 

This is by no means a permanent solution and will require close scrutiny but it's eco-friendly and seems to have done the plants no lasting damage 

Meantime, to replace the missing plants I've initiated a second round of planting. Plenty of Scotch Bonnets, Dorset Nagas and assorted Habs have been sown and are progressing well on the (occasionally) sunny windowsill. Due to the late planting and the potentially iffy summer weather it's debatable if they'll fruit well this year but if I can overwinter them with more success this year then I'll have a headstart next season.

Replacement Scotch Bonnets

A second batch of superhots and Scotch Bonnets

Making the most of the sunshine

In other news, we recently visited the Eastnor Castle Chilli Festival and a good time was had by all. Despite the unexpectedly long queues (bought on by the unexpectedly good weather) we had plenty of time to peruse the chilli-ware stalls, sample the Indian and Mexican food on offer and even visit a slightly peculiar cookery demonstration (It was certainly an education learning how 'authentic Mexican cooking' uses soy sauce!)

That aside, there was plenty to attract the visitor, chilli-head or otherwise. The music was lively and fun, the food and drink was both plentiful and delicious and Clifton Chilli Club's Chilli Eating Contest was equally entertaining, hard-fought and wincingly brutal.

We did sample products from nearly all the chilli exhibitors on display and, by and large, were impressed. However, with so many small companies jumping on the chilli bandwagon, it's becoming harder to tell their products apart. 

It's not hard to make a chilli sauce and too many people are settling for a generic product with no unique selling point. Upton Cheyney use lots of home-grown ingredients in their delicious sauces and even smoke their own chipotles (still the best chipotle sauce I've ever tasted). Mr Vickies has the amazing Indian spices to define their brand. Grim Reaper foods have matched up their scorching sauces and chocolates with slick marketing and branding. Fat Man Chilli was impressive with the chillies in the sauce carefully matched to the alcoholic spirit used. There are plenty more to mention but all to many producers settling for a naga-laden hot sauce with no character or real flavour. Lets see some real originality in the flavour combinations.

Rant over.

Our modest haul from Eastnor Chilli Fest.  All of these products are fantastic and come highly recommended

Back in September we launched our chilli challenge at our wedding and I've received a few photos from participants.  Looks like some very successful growing, despite the odd weather.  Please keep the photos coming, I'm excited to see how everyone is getting on.

Claudio & Diana's

Lisa & Andy's (the ones on the right) 

Emma & James'