Chilli Fiesta 2015

West Dean, near Chichester, Friday, August 7, to Sunday, August 9

WHEN West Dean’s gardens supervisor Sarah Wain and her husband Jim Buckland launched the first West Dean Chilli Fiesta in 1996 they were expecting a few hundred people to be interested.

When they got 2,500 visitors in a single day Wain admits it made the pair sit back and take notice. Now in its 20th year the West Dean Chilli Fiesta has inspired more than 20 similar events up and down the country, but with more than 150 stalls, and the chance to camp overnight onsite the Sussex celebration still regards itself as the original and best.

What makes the initial success of the fiesta so amazing was it was only relatively recently the pair of head gardeners had begun cultivating the hot plant.

“The very first chilli plants we grew at West Dean were for a botanical illustration tutor, who wanted us to grow some for a summer school,” says Wain, adding Buckland’s study trip to the US in 1994 and 1995 made them realise what they were missing out on.

“We realised what a huge and important culture chillies were in North America. He came back with three books on how to grow them.”

In 1996 West Dean became home to 80 different chilli varieties, which has since swelled to 250.

“There are thousands of chilli varieties in the world,” says Wain. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Growing 250 varieties is about it for us in terms of space. I do try new varieties each year, but some chillies are part of certain dishes so we don’t want to muck around with that.”

The idea behind the chillies grown at West Dean is to represent different cuisines around the country – from the paprika-heavy dishes of Hungary to the ingredients of a good South American mole sauce.

“We tried the culinary route, then the country route, and then got fussy about how they looked,” says Wain.

“There is one I particularly enjoy growing which was given to me by a soldier in the armed forces who picked it up years ago from a marketplace. I call it Michael’s Magic – you can’t buy it anywhere, but it’s grown here every year.

“The Hungarian Hot Wax is a very versatile chilli – it’s easy to grow from seed, it grows quickly and readily produces a sturdy plant with 4in long chillies. As they ripen turn from cream to orange to vibrant red. When the fruits ripen at different times it looks like a firecracker.

“The Rooster Spur has little chillies on small plants, which only grow a foot to 18in in height, but have many small quarter-inch-long chillies. They are terrific in curry sauces.”

West Dean’s initial chilli crop earned them a slot on Gardener’s World.

Wain puts the success of the first Chilli Fiesta partly down to the huge publicity it received as the broadcast coincided with the death of original presenter Geoff Hamilton.

But she also feels it is about a growing interest in a plant which can be found in cuisines on all continents.

“For the first ten years it was a bit of a stretch to find chilli plants – we got a lot from the US and Australia,” says Wain. “Now it’s easy to get anything we like in this country, we have watched that change.”

The 20th anniversary of the Chilli Fiesta this weekend has already been marked with a Bronze Award for Tourism Event Of The Year, by the Beautiful South Awards For Excellence.

Among the special guests for this year’s celebration are Strictly Come Dancing’s Brendan Cole leading a salsa masterclass on Sunday, and hot sauce legend Levi Roots with both a cookery session and a live show with his band.

As well as cookery and tasting events, and a variety of stalls, the entertainment on the main stage comes from Group Lokito, The Fontanas, Jesus Cutino and Son de Cuba and Brazilian band Sambossa, plus the Mariachi Tequila Band.

Once the stalls close there will be live music in the Paradiso Latino Cabaret tent with Latin jazz trio Quinto tonight from 9pm, guitarist Nicolas tomorrow and Trio Los Musicos on Sunday.

Open from 10am, day tickets from £12, weekend with camping £80/£30. Visit www.westdean.org.uk/