The ChileFoundry » UK Growers

How it all started – The Wiltshire Chilli Farm

WiltshireChilliFarm — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:04:05 +0000

May already! Time has literally flown by since our first see was sown last year. I’ve been asked a lot about how we started so decided to write a little about how it all began.

Wiltshire Chilli Farm

Our Story

After a few beers down the local I was asked ‘so what do you want to be when you grow up?’ my immediate response was a Chilli farmer. Over the next few weeks that question played on my mind so we went out and bought a small 10ft by 15ft poly tunnel and sowed just over 150 seeds. That was February 2010.

Our initial plan was to sell fresh chillies, however it soon became apparent that option wouldn’t be sustainable so we started looking at other ways to use the crop. Having always enjoyed cooking and playing around with food, the idea of producing chilli sauces sprung to mind. The summer rolled on by and our 150 plants started producing a huge crop of ripe chillies.

The legalities were sorted, recipes produced and after spending most of August with my hands and face constantly on fire we began to trial products down the local pub. A wary group of family and friends became our official tasters and soon the final range was decided.

The next task was to design our branding. Having a little design experience and absolutely no money we started to mock up labels ourselves, 6 designs later we had one which everyone liked. By November production was set to begin and we were finally ready to start selling our sauces.

We attended our first market early December and were completely overwhelmed by the popularity of our stall. It was great to see that so many people enjoyed our products and so we attended a few more markets which reinforced our confidence that this could be a viable business. Inspired by our success at the markets we purchased our first commercial poly tunnel, 24ft wide by 60ft long and set about planning what varieties to grow.

With our second baby due in January we decided to take two months off the markets and plan the coming months. It was also during this time that we sowed the first seeds of the year, Douglahs and Chocolate Habaneros (I’m a huge fan of the Chocolate varieties ).

Seedling underway

With my addiction to growing chillies in full flow the initial 200 seeds soon multiplied into 600, then over 1,000 which completely took over the house. I decided a single commercial tunnel just wasn’t enough and so, much to Julie’s dismay, purchased a second 24ft by 60ft tunnel. We also purchased a smaller 10ft by 20ft tunnel which is sponsored by Greenhouse Sensation showcasing some of their innovative planters.

It was also around this time that we approached Jonathan, the owner of our local Garden Centre (Lowden Garden Centre) with the idea of a Chilli show tunnel. Hosting it in a busy garden centre would allow enthusiasts and the uninitiated alike to see and taste a multitude of different Chilli varieties. Jonathan was very receptive to the idea and offered us the use of one of his commercial poly tunnels for the year.

putting on the covers

By March the poly tunnel frames were up and a group of friends were on standby for a windless day to help get the covers on. By mid April the covers were on, ground rotovated and irrigation laid ready for the frosts to pass before planting out. We’ve then spent the last week of April planting out every evening and keeping a close eye on the plants to make sure they’re happy in their new home.

chillies planted and starting to grow

Overall the last few months have been more than hectic as we finish our huge expansion from growing just over 150 plants to well over a 1,000 in 4,200 sq ft of growing space. There’s still a lot more to do, many new markets, leaflets to design and new sauces to produce, but with tunnels ready and majority of planting done the next job on the list is to get the plants out in the show tunnel then sit back and have a beer.

The Wiltshire Chilli Farm

Happy Growing

Jamie & Julie.

Editors Note: You can visit the Wiltshire Chilli Farm’s web site at www.justchillies.co.uk

The Gallery of Images – Building the Wiltshire Chilli Farm

[Show as slideshow]

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The Upton Cheyney Chilli Company

Hot Juan — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 08:55:46 +0000

The Upton Cheyney Chilli Company is a rapidly growing chilli farm located mid-way between Bristol and Bath in the South West of England.

The Upton Cheyney Chilli Company

Fruity Chilli Sauce

Alex (the chilli farmer) and his wife Louise (sauce maker and market-stall extraordinaire) started the chilli farm in 2008 with just one poly tunnel. Initially it was a hobby business but rapidly grew into a full time enterprise that has seen them increase their poly tunnels from the original one to five!

Three of the tunnels are dedicated to growing chillies for their range of chilli sauces, jams, chutneys and organic Hot Pig chilli sausages and hams.

The fourth tunnel is a show tunnel that has been stocked and designed by Matt Simpson of Simpson Seeds. It exhibits over 100 different types of chilli plants and in the year 2011 is encouraging visitors to shout abuse at one of the 7 pots in an fun attempt to stress it enough to produce the new worlds hottest chilli!

Upton Cheyney Chilli Festival ...

The fifth tunnel is sponsored by Bristol’s very own spice giant – Bart Spices. In this tunnel, Alex grows a variety of chillies on behalf of Bart Spices.

The general public are encouraged to visit the farm, where they can view not only the chillies growing but also a variety of traditional farm yard animals including cows, pigs, goats and geese. There is also a small picnic area with far reaching views over the Welsh mountains and a delightful farm shop with its own cafe and organic stocks.

Their products can be found at many of the farmers markets in the Bristol and Bath area as well as at numerous food and chilli shows across the country over the course of each year. They also host a very popular chilli festival on the second Saturday of every September, which see’s a chilli eating contest, chilli talks, tasting sessions, live music and kids entertainment.

The Upton Cheyney Chilli Company
Manor Farm
Upton Cheyney
Bristol
BS30 6NQ

Website www.uptonchilli.co.uk

email: sales@uptonchilli.co.uk

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Sea Spring Seeds – Why grow an ordinary vegetable when you can grow an exceptional one?

Hot Juan — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:35:27 +0000

Sea Spring Seeds

Sea Spring Seeds is the home of the Dorset Naga, one of the hottest chillies in the world. The business is owned and operated by Joy and Michael Michaud, who have also established and manage other gardening enterprises such as Seed Spring Plants (selling chilli plug plants) and Peppers by Post (growing and selling fresh chillies through the post).

Sea Spring Seeds is best known for its selective range of chillies carefully culled from the hundreds of varieties available worldwide. Before anything goes in the catalogue, it is trialled and evaluated for yield, earliness, growth habit and culinary utility. Varieties that make it through the trials are then laboratory-tested for heat levels, after which they are offered for sale. Though conducting trials is a long, slow and expensive process, the Michauds feel confident that the varieties they sell are some of the best adapted to the British climate.

Many of the Michauds’ chillies are hard-to find or unique varieties sold only by Sea Spring Seeds. They come from a number of sources, including immigrant gardeners, travellers returning from exotic destinations, and natural crosses made in their tunnels and greenhouses. The selection increases from year to year, and new additions are in the pipe line, including a super hot that will be available in the autumn of 2011.

As the Michauds say, ‘Why grow an ordinary vegetable when you can grow an exceptional one?’

To order for to find more information please visit their web site www.seaspringseeds.co.uk

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The Chilli Garden – Organic Hampshire Chillies

Hot Juan — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:20:29 +0000

The Chilli Garden

Based in a wooded vale on the Surrey/Hampshire border The Chilli Garden seven acre’s are farmed by three generations of the same family. Between them Father, Daughter and Son-in-law; Peter, Alison and Mik, have wealth of experience in farming, food production and design enabling them to make everything on the farm themselves.

There web site is truly excellent for an in-house design, with a great look that goes across the whole product range as well.

They are very committed to natural farming methods and are members of “The Wholesome Food Association” (a self policing body for small holders and farmers which holds the principals of organic farming in highest esteem).

Only their own chillies are used in their sauces, Jam and Jellies and are free from all artificial ingredients, we have reviewed some of their products in the past and they come highly recommended.

Their range includes some very interesting products I don’t think I have seen a jam’s or Jellies made with Hungarian Hot Wax Chillies, they also have a Thai Basque Hot Sauce that combines Thai Dragon Chillies with Basque Gorria Peppers, I cannot wait to try them.

Please visit them at www.thechilligarden.co.uk where you can order on-line.

The Chilli Garden
Opax Farm Nursery
Spats Lane,
Hearn,
Headley,
Hampshire

info@thechilligarden.co.uk

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Cambridge Chilli Farm

Hot Juan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:45:24 +0000

Tim Murphy contacted us a while ago to tell us about his new venture “Cambridge Chilli Farm” after the arrival of a little boy in September 2008, Tim who has previously run a small part time nursery dedicated to Hellebores, decided to go full time, but not growing Hellebores but chillies.

So in January 2009, the first large batch of seeds was sown and the new venture started. With three polytunnels they could grow a good crop of chillies and by mid June they started producing ripe chillies.

After much development and some help from the local authorities they started producing their own relishes, Jellies and sauces. Then in July 2009 they did their first Farmers Market in St. Ives Nr Cambridge.

Cambridge Chilli Farm Stall

Now they are regulars on the Farmers Markets with a stand at The St. Ives, Cambridge, Ely and Ramsey markets

They have a range of Sauces which we hope to review as time goes on, including:- Ghost Pepper ‘10’ Sauce – An all natural sauces which boasts 10 Naga Morich per bottle.

And Naga Napalm Sauce, Habanero Hot Sauce, Pineapple & Habanero Hot Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce, Smoky Chipotle Sauce, Tomato & Chilli Sauce.

As well as a impressive collection of spicy jellys , jam and a smoky relish:- Raspberry & Chilli Jelly, Lime & Chilli Jelly, Cranberry & Serrano Chilli Jelly, Habanero Gold Jam and Red Onion & Smoky Chipotle Relish.

No online shop as yet, but they accept Cheques and PayPal, So if you are in Cambridge visit one of the local farmers markets and let us know what you think.

UPDATE: Tim has also now added an shop to their web site, so you can now order on-line

Visit www.cambridgechillifarm.co.uk for more information

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Dartmoor Chilli Farm – Organic and Holistic Chillies

Hot Juan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:19:03 +0000

Dartmoor chilli farm established in 2007 is located on the outskirts of Ashburton within the beautiful Dartmoor National Park. It is run by Phil and Kay Palmer. Kay has trained in floristry, horticulture and holistic therapies. Phil has a diploma in computer studies and is the chilli enthusiast. They grow over 90 varieties of sweet pepper and chilli plants along with rhubarb, herbs and vegetables.

Dartmoor Chilli Farm

They run the farm holistically and organically without the use of herbicides or pesticides and use nature and hard work to minimise the damage caused by pests such as biological control, companion planting, and regular hand removal of slugs and snails which are given a holiday to another part of the nursery. Being both vegan we realise the importance of living in harmony with nature and our surroundings and therefore do not kill any pests but encourage natural wildlife habitats to create a greater biodiversity.

“We have a very low carbon foot print and caring for the environment is very important to us. The nursery is off grid therefore we create our own electricity with 4 large solar panels and a small wind turbine, up until July 2009 we only used rain water which we collected in over ten 1000 Litre water buts. We now have a bore hole which has given us our own drinking water and allowed us to water the plants with a hose pipe when necessary. We consciously re-cycle all of our household waste and by conscious shopping methods have not had to add anything to landfill in over two years.” Says Phil.

They have an extensive range of vegan chilli chocolate with the exception of the milk chilli chocolate. The range of dark chocolate contains 70% cocoa and is available in plain, orange, mint and coffee. The vegan theme continues in the range of chutneys along with the chilli jam, sauces and chilli jelly.

“We are passionate about what we do and proud of everything that we have achieved, in a world where most companies are only concerned with gross profits we are a small company who have embraced a sustainable living which allows us to work in harmony with nature whilst holistically growing and producing a range of chilli plants and produce that we can sell locally and nationally.”

You can find out more about the Dartmoor Chilli Farm at their web site www.dartmoorchillifarm.co.uk

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Chillies2U – Breeding Lambs and Growing Chillies

Hot Juan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:30:00 +0000

Based in Oxfordshire Ian Paxton has been a farmer for nearly 40 years, and farms about 100 acres, he has 3 large poly tunnels which alternate between being used for lambing and then when the lambs are out in the fields they are filled with Chilli Plants, he then runs a mail order business, while also appearing at local markets selling fresh and dried chillies as well as his own range of sauces.

We found this video from Ian on Youtube

Please visit Ian web site www.chillies2u.co.uk for details of how to order, or his schedule of events and markets.

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The Chilli Company – Mendlesham, Suffolk

Hot Juan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:05:06 +0000

The Chilli Company - Converted Barn

Created by Adrian and Denise Nuttall who started growing and making sauces in 2001 The Chilli Company has grown over the years and in 2006 they moved to larger premises in Mendlesham and opened the Chilli Farm.

Based in a 400 year old converted barn which houses the shop and licensed coffee shop, with the nursery open to the public during the summer, they grow and sell over 50 varieties of chilli plants as well as a using them to make a range of homemade chilli including Chilli Scones, Chilli Sausage rolls and Chilli Brownies and they have recently developed their own Chilli Ice Cream.

Inside the shop

They run a number of events during the summer including:-
“Pimientos de Padron Festival” in August and the “Chilli Fiesta & Chili Cook Off” in September, which attracted over 700 visitors, it included cooking demonstrations, South American Dance lessons, Chili Cook-Off Competition as well as Chilli Stalls, BBQ & outdoor bar. Check there web site for the latest dates and events.

You can order products online at their web site http://www.chillicompany.com they stock over 300 chilli products

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South Devon Chilli Farm

Hot Juan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:00:16 +0000

Growing over 10,000 chilli plants the South Devon Chilli Farm has grown a lot since it opened early in 2003.

Run by Jason Nickels and Steve Waters with up to 5 staff at busy times. The farm is spread between two locations and is situated approximately halfway between Torquay and Plymouth.

The main site is near the village of Loddiswell and is approx 10 acres with a small shop that they open all year round, 7 days a week, between 10am-4pm. There is also a show poly tunnel in which they display examples of the varieties they grow. The second site is in South Milton and consists of 4 poly tunnels

With 2,500 square meters of chilli plants, they harvested over a million chillies last year alone.

The Shop

Their online shop sells Fresh Chiles during the season (July – November), Smoke and Dried chillies, Chilli Powders, Chilli Chocolate Preserves, Sauces and even a range of seeds.

Their latest range of products includes a Extreme Bhut Jolokia Sauce, Mash and Jam.

They have a wholesale online shop of their stockists, who while mainly in the south west can also be found as far away as Derbyshire and Cumbria, a complete list can be found on their web site. They have even got some of their products for sale on Amazon

A number of foodie celebrity including Jamie Oliver and Tom Parker-Bowles (We like Tom as he referenced my book a number of times) are amongst their fans.

They seem like a very forward thinking business whose growth is base on good service and products, we hope during the summer to visit them and bring back some pictures for you to see.

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Mid Devon Chilli Farm (Exeter)

Hot Juan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:37:39 +0000

Opened in 2005 the Mid Devon Chilli Farm grows a wide range of chillies in poly tunnels near Exeter in Devon, Their range includes on of my favourites Pimientos de Padron as well as Aji Peppers, Bangalore Torpedo, Caribbean Red Hot, Cayenne Pepper, Devils Tongue, Fatalli, New Mexican Big Jim, Orange Habanero, Ring of Fires, Scotch Bonnet, Wrinkley Old Men, Indian G4, Indian G9 and Big Sun Habanero.

They produce a wide range of sauces, preserves as well as spices for sale all year around, with the fresh pepper available during the season.

Video taken at Tiverton Market (not produced by the ChileFoundry)

Mid Devon Chilli Farm
Goffins Farm,
Exeter,
Devon.

Order Online www.chillipeppersonline.co.uk

Telephone 01392 412263 Mobile 07899735929

Please Note: Farm visits by appointment only!