Continuing on with our series of blogs about unique Fife businesses this week we look at Chillilicious. Who would ever have thought Fife would house a chilli farm.

Mother and daughter team Tricia and Stacey got together in May 2011, combining artistic talent and cooking skills to create Chillilicious. They both have a love of Chillies and with a belief that eating Chilli should be a pleasant and tasty experience, not a painful, one set about creating a range of chilli based condiments.

Apart from selling their products they aim to spread the love of chillies and educate the public on the health benefits of consuming capsicum, it is said to lower cholesterol, raise metabolism, prevent risk of stroke etc.

They grow all their own chillies in a polytunnel in their garden and aim to build two further 60 foot polytunnels by the end of the year. I had a tour around the existing polytunnel but luckily wasn’t made to sample the raw ingredients. There are a huge range of Chillies growing and while they all look the same to the layman, there is a huge difference in heat. Chilli heat is measured using a scale called the Scoville Rating, Stacey explained that a jalapeno has a rating of 10,000 and then she pointed to her pride and joy and beamed that this had a rating of 2,000,000 !!! owwww!! This one is called the Red Maruga Scorpion, just to warn you.

Later this year the intention is to build a smoker, this will provide a whole new range of flavours using the same chillies that are at present being freeze dried. They are also working on some alcohol based chillies but these will not be available until next year.

They recently held the first ‘Chillilicious Cook Off’ at Elmwood College where cookery students used Chillilicious chutneys to come up with innovative recipes, the winner received £100.

Stacey is an art graduate and as well as her involvement with the Chillies also creates innovative and practical fused and recycled glass for use around the home, it of course has a chilli theme.

So go out and enjoy Chillies as we now know they are healthy, that is unless you pick the wrong one, but you have been warned which one to avoid.

For further info:http://www.chillilicious.co.uk/