Brighton

Sinful Sauces – 2 Days at the Brighton Chill Festival

by Guest Writer on October 7, 2011 · 0 comments

After what seemed like a nano second of sleep, our alarm sounded at an un-godly 5am, signalling that it was time to get ourselves down to Brighton for the final UK Chilli festival of the season.

This was our first time at the Brighton event so we didn’t know what to expect, however knowing the guys at Chilli Pepper Pete and their great reputation within the industry, we were expecting a great weekend to unfold.

McDonalds

We indulged in our traditional pre-festival McDonalds breakfast and after 2 hours of uneventful motorway driving, we finally arrived at Victoria Gardens, the home of the Brighton Chilli Festival.

After a quick check-in with the very helpful and friendly event staff, we were soon setting up our pitch inside the large marquee. Our pitch was just inside the end of the marquee and we were pleased to be next to our good friend Tim from the Cambridge Chilli Farm. Out of the 6 events we’ve attended over the summer, we’ve had Tim as our neighbour for 5 of them, so it’s fair to say we’ve gotten to know each other quite well!

Tim @ Cambridge Chilli Farm

As this has been our very first year as traders on the chilli circuit and we’d pretty much thrown ourselves in the deep end in terms of the events we’ve attended, it has taken us the whole summer to learn just what to pack, how much stock to bring and how to set up in a timely fashion! We’re pleased to say that we FINALLY got our set up routine nailed in time for Brighton! This meant that we had out stall set up in plenty of time and for once, we were pretty chilled out by the time the customers came through the gates. Result!

The morning was pretty steady in terms of people but it really picked from about 1pm onwards, as the rest of Brighton seemed to have woken up and came in their droves to buy some heat. This was the first time that many of the pubic in Brighton had seen us and we’re delighted to report that our products and brand went down a storm with the locals!

With entertainment from a traditional Mexican Mariachi band, a full stage with many local bands, lots of hot & cold food to choose from and of course a well stocked and reasonably priced bar, it’s fair to say that the party was in full swing by mid-afternoon. The latter half of the day was reserved for the infamous chilli eating contest where a selection of the public go head to head in a battle of bravado, capsaicin tolerance and stupidity! The ‘winner’ received a cash prize for their troubles, much to the amusement of the audience =)

Sinful Sauces - Two National Chilli Awards

Another major feature of the Brighton Chill Festival were the National Chill Awards, where accolades are given to companies and individuals for their achievements, as voted by a panel of judges. We were very surprised and delighted to pick up not one, but two awards at the event! We won the award for ‘Best Newcomer’ and also for ‘Best Label’, which was particularly poignant because the artist, Paul Garner, who designed our ‘chilli devil’ character on our 7 Deadly Sins sauce labels is a local from Brighton. To top it off, Paul had come to the festival to see us and was able to share the award with us on the day, making it very special for us all.

With the event winding down for the day, we met up with Rose from Chilli Pepper Pete who took us to see their new shop in the North Laines area. It was great to finally see the shop in the flesh and it was very impressive site to see every wall quite literally covered with chilli products!

We then marched across the street to The Lord Nelson pub where a function room in the back had been reserved for the Chilli Pepper Pete festival traders! Suffice to say, the next few hours were spent indulging in beer and various chilli stories and with such luminaries as Ivor from The Devils Garden, Niall from Mr. Vikkis, Simon the ChilliJamMan, Tim from Cambridge Chilli Farm, Darth Naga & Mrs Naga, Jamie from Wiltshire Chilli Farm, Eat More Heat and of course the team from Chilli Pepper Pete, the night was a fitting end to a very successful and enjoyable day.

Day 2:

With a sluggish start and many booze related stall-holder casualties on site, the day began.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat performance of Saturday in terms of how the festival unfolded however, there seemed to be more families in attendance. The weather was a little hit and miss with occasional downpours however, this didn’t deter the great British public from coming out and having fun. Let’s face it, we wouldn’t do much in the UK if we let the weather get in the way!

Bims Kitchen

Another day of brisk trade ensued with our neighbours Cambridge Chilli Farm,Lily’s Chillies and Bim’s Kitchen all looking really busy throughout the afternoon. As the day wound down we managed to treat ourselves to a delicious (and we mean delicious) ice cream from Purbeck’s before getting ready to pack down and ready ourselves for the journey home.

Overall, we had a fantastic weekend in Brighton and it was a thoroughly enjoyable event that we have no hesitation in recommending to anyone. Event if you’re not a fan of chilli and spice, it’s definitely worth a visit for the warm and friendly atmosphere that the festival provides.

We were a little saddened with this being the last chilli festival of the season but we’ve had a fantastic summer overall and have met some amazing people, having made some great new friends along the way. Now that we have some experience under our belts, we can’t wait to get stuck into the 2012 chilli season and look forward to catching up with our friends and hopefully making some new ones too!

Many thanks to everyone we’ve met this year and a special thanks to Rose & Shane for the kind hospitality and also to Tim for the continual advice and help along the way.

We hope to see you soon!

Paul & Kelly

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Fiery Foods UK Chilli Festival Chilli Eating Competition Day 1

by Hot Juan on September 28, 2011 · 0 comments

in Product Reviews

(c) Lloyd Miller llomil.com - FFUK Chilli Festival in Brighton 2011 Chilli Eating Contest Day 1

The marquee is full ready for the Chilli Eating Contest

A big crowd packed the marquee at the Fiery Foods UK Chilli Festival for the first of the weekends Chilli Eating Contests, each entrant is presented with a garland of chillies, and is led to a seat on the stage, in front of them is a small black bucket and a cold glass of beer.

To start they all looked as cool as possible, just like they did this everyday just for fun. The audience knows they are watching the fool hardy, who may smile and grin in the vain hoping this is not really going to hurt that much.

Ready to start eating

The contest is simple, they are each handed a chilli, they are mild to start with, they are given time to eat this and hold up the stalk, each round the chillies get progressively hotter, the first 5 are OK, but after that the extreme and super hots start to weed out the weak, leaving just the insane to be the last man/woman standing.

If they touch the beer of do not eat one of the chillies they are out, the event takes about 30-50 minutes, the longer it takes the more the pain, it is not always the heat in the mouth that finishes you off, but your stomach rebels at such a rich capsiacin diet (best not to miss the bucket).

The Winner - Reuben

An if you do get near the end, we recommend you don’t try to hold it all down, it is not going to give to a restful night, or a very pleasant morning, the only way is to vomit it all up as soon as you can. Its unpleasant at the time, but at least then it is over for another day.

And on this the first day of the competition, Reuben who looked like he was going out much earlier managed to keep it all going and win, our congratulations to Reuben, we would love to hear from him to know how he felt afterwards.

There are a number of Chilli Eating Competitions at chilli Festivals around the UK, but this has to be one of the toughest.

Our thanks to Lloyd Miller who provided the images therefore All images copyright Lloyd Miller llomil.com

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Chilli Pepper Pete’s new shop – Trafalgar Street Brighton

by Thelurch on September 10, 2011 · 3 comments

in Product Reviews

So much more than just a shop!

Chilli Pepper Pete Chilli Shop Brighton

A few weeks ago, I thought it was about time I should visit Chilli Pepper Pete at his brand new shop in Brighton, and do a review for those who haven’t seen it.

As someone who lives just outside Brighton, I had visited Pete’s previous shop which was located in the Marina, some two miles away from the main shopping area of the town. I had always thought this was too far out of the city. The new shop is located in Trafalgar Street, in the area known as the North Laines, a stone’s throw from the City’s Railway Station. Those familiar with the seaside town will know that this area, along with the South Laines, house a huge assortment of independents, cafés and general curiosity shops in its constantly crowded, diverse and bustling streets, where you can buy anything from beads to noodles and now Chillies!

Chilli Pepper Pete Chilli Shop - Brighton 2011

Pete outside the shop

As you walk down Trafalgar Street, there is no mistaking Chilli Pepper Pete’s shop, as it stands out from the rest with its bright, colourful familiar branded signage. Upon entering the shop, brushing past the Ristra strings that hang near the doorway, I see the shop is smaller than the original one, but that’s good thing in my opinion. There’s nothing worse than a vacuous shop with not enough stock to fill it. It’s also immediately clear that I am walking into another world, a Chilli world.

The team at CPP, the majority of which are family members, have made use of every available space to create a visceral feast for the eyes. The walls are a deep red, the only colour to use in a Chilli shop, although there isn’t much wall space visible due to the huge range of sauces, relishes and jellies for sale from around the world. The range is quite impressive and adds just about every colour to the walls. I kept thinking I’d walked into a Potion shop in Diagon Alley!

Massive range of stock

In addition, there are fresh chillies, plants, seeds, powdered and dried pods, chilli jewellery, T-Shirts and even shrunken heads! Although the main focus is the huge range of sauces.

Another thing I noticed during my visit was the great community feel about the shop, people pop in, have a look, chat and buy, and there is a steady flow of customers. I have never had that feeling in any other shop. Pete hit the nail on the head with the observation that Chillies seem to bring people together, strangers are happy to talk to each other when Chillies are involved and that rings true in this shop, just like at West Dean and the like, definitely not something you get in the supermarket!

Talking to Pete, for those that have never met him, and this was my first meeting, I found him very friendly, relaxed and welcoming. You get that feeling that he has a wicked sense of humour which is also demonstrated in the CPP range of sauces, dragon’s blood being his best seller, and the well -known sauces he has imitated, purely for fun. He told me the story about a certain sauce he made, which bore more than a passing resemblance in name and shape, fully intentionally, to a mainstream sauce made by a worldwide chicken eatery, and the lawsuit which ensued, and has only just been rescinded.

There be Dragons in Brighton

Pete’s business started some 15+ years ago under the name b.right.on (Brighton) making frozen curry ready meals in a market where ready meals were a new concept. This is when Pete realised how many varieties of Chillies there were, most of which were not easy to source at the time, but realising he needed an increasing number of Chillies for the curries he was making, he started growing his own. It was during this time that a supplier in Brighton introduced him to a new Chilli called the Naga, which he made into his first sauce called “Zhoug” and the Chilli Pepper Pete brand was born. He now has Naga’s growing on a large plot in Southern Spain, and employs someone to grow his “superhots” range of fresh Chillies in this country.

It’s clear that cooking is one of Pete’s passions, after all it’s where he started and he is still Chief sauce maker, although he now has an apprentice being trained to cook the top secret recipes, and tells me he has plans to re-introduce the range of his own frozen ready meal curries for sale in the shop, and has dreams of opening a shop in the Capital.

I find the man very interesting, I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about Chillies but how wrong I was. Pete talks openly about the business, telling many stories and anecdotes which draw me in and make me wish I had had half the Chilli experience this man has had.

So in summary, I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Chilli Pepper Pete’s if you ever find yourself in Brighton, or indeed Sussex, especially with their upcoming FieryFoodsUK event in the town this month, there’s every reason to visit as there is a great vibe, and a great team behind the scenes too.

l am planning to become a regular at the shop, not only because it is local to me but because I can get all my regular chilli fixes from one location.

There really should be a Chilli Pepper Pete’s shop in every city, London, New York and beyond!

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National Chilli Awards 2011 – The Amateur Sauce Contest

by Hot Juan on August 22, 2011 · 0 comments

in General Information

Fiery Foods 2011

Can you make a chilli product to rival the pros, if you make a mean chilli chocolate brownie, a ravishing relish or a quaffable chilli beer or wine, or almost anything with chilli in it then Fiery Foods UK Ltd want YOU to enter our Amateur Sauce Contest.

The judging will take place on Sunday 18th September and, if you win, your product will be marketed and sold by FFUK.

HOW TO ENTER

Click on this link to download and complete the entry form then send it to info@fieryfoodsuk.co.uk or: Fiery Foods UK Ltd, 56 Greenways, Ovingdean, Brighton BN2 7BL. We will then contact you with further details about the competition. Bring your sauces to the FFUK Chilli Festival in time for the judging at 12pm on Sunday 18th September.

THE PRIZE

If your sauce wins then you will have the chance to make your sauce under the professional guidance of the UK’s top chilli sauce producer, Chillipepperpete, and then sell it on commission in the Fiery Foods UK shop in Brighton.

COMPETITION RULES

The entry must have chilli as an ingredient (fresh or dried).
The entry may be a sauce, jam, chutney, pickle, cooking sauce, marinade, jelly, pesto.
The entry must be home-made by the entrant and not bought, either from a shop, supermarket, farmers’ market, bring-and-buy, etc.
The entry must be made by the person entering the sauce and must not have been sold at any time prior to the competition.
The entrant must not be producing any chilli products in a professional capacity.
The entry may be made using an existing recipe or an original recipe devised by the entrant.
There is no limit as to the number of ingredients used.
The entrant may enter more than 1 sauce.
The judges’ decision is final.
The entry at the National Chilli Awards final must be the not be the same sauce from a previous FF UK competition and the entrant must abide by those rules set above.
The winning entrant may be required to meet press and media arranged by Fiery Foods UK Ltd.
Entrants must abide by any other regulations that the organisers of Fiery Foods UK may see fit.

Click here to download the entry form

Professional sauce makers follow this link

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