Focus on... Growing chillies

If you crave crops with a real kick, now’s the time to start sowing your chilli peppers. Lucy Chamberlain shows you how to sow and grow fabulous, flavoursome chillies

- Lucy Chamberlain

EVOCATIVE, exciting eye-candy – that’s how I’d describe chilli peppers. Plus, eye-watering if you eat the wrong one raw! The heat we taste – measured in Scoville heat units (SHUs) – is due to capsaicinoids, which are the plant chemicals held in the seed coat.

While milder chillies have a thicker seedcoat (known as the placenta) that protects the seeds from damage, hotter varieties like ‘Naga Viper’ and ‘Trinidad Scorpion’ have a thinner yet capsaicin-packed placenta. This protects the seed from rots as well as mammalian predators via its antimicrobial activity – and the fact that it tastes foul! Some folk get a buzz from the ‘feel-good’ endorphins produced in response to the painful heat (the oils in full-fat milk or yoghurt dissolve capsaicin; use these to quell the fire in your mouth). But seed companies are developing mild varieties like ‘Biquinho Yellow’ and ‘Bellaforma’ for those who prefer less heat.

Cultivation essentials

If you are an official hot-head, sow now and, for maximum heat, grow seedlings on in a heated greenhouse. Forget ample watering and feeding – growing your plants ‘hard’ will give hotter fruits (capsaicin is produced in plants as a response to stress).

Super-hot varieties can also become sizeable, slow-to-crop plants, so grow in pots to restrict size and induce earlier fruiting. Follow my tips and variety picks on the following page…

Lucy’s tips

Start off your chillies in three steps