A very big event in the city of Eindhoven is the annual Dutch Chili Fest. A festival all about peppers, even more hot peppers and heat. Other years you needed to have tickets to get in there, but this year there was no entrance fee and it was time to take a peek inside.
Hot pepper lovers from all over the country unite, we are feeling the heat!
This festival has been there for a couple of years already, for me it was the first time visiting. I had very much underestimated how big this event was by now. There were 4 different areas in the venue, two for sauce buying, one for growing supplies, and one for eating something and also where the 'hot pepper eating competition' was held.
Hotsauce!
Wow, what a crazy amount is stands there were to showcase their sauces. There were a lot of homesaucemakers which medium official labels on it (which can be annoying, because you don't really know how lot the sauce can be preserved. But also the bigger players here in the Netherlands had their little stand.
If you were able to get through the crowds there were by all an option to taste and try something.
Does this sauce look familiar to you? If you ever have seen the series 'Hot Ones' this is 'Da Bomb beyond insanity' hotsauce. That is the sauce where everyone has trouble keeping their heads straight because it is so damn hot. And indeed, it is really spicy, but what was the disappointment more, was the flavour of the sauce.
It is an extract and you can really tast that, it is almost chemical. But yeah, damn hot is was indeed. It took the flavour away for a long while from other stuff.
Growing stuff!
The actual main reason why I wanted to head down here because there were also some stands with seedlings for pepper plants. In previous years I had also been growing some of these plants, but I had to drive quite a bit down to get the seedlings. Only specialised growers grow them here because they are so fragile in this cold climate here.
At one small stand they were also selling seeds which is also really nice to do. But not for me, as it is so complicated to get them in into decent size.
So it was really cool to see that there was a stand with all different kinds of small pepper plant seedlings and honestly, they were also super cheap! 3 euros per plant is really a good bargain!
Let the growing begin again! I took three different crazy hot plants home with me, so let us see what will happen over the upcoming months.
Pepper eating competition
During this whole day there were 3 pepper eating competition rounds held. As as they usually are held is that it starts off with a lot lighter peppers and it builds up eventually to the super hot ones.
Honestly, I love to see this as I really enjoy seeing people being extremely unconfortable. You can just see it starting to happen. They are grabbing for their napkins, the sweat is starting to break out, the eating goes slower, and eventually they knock off.
It ended with still 3 competitors there after the most hot chili so the final round was who was able to eat the pepper the fastest. I guess that people are eating a lot more hot now, because finishing with 2 whole pure carolina reasper at 2.5 million on the scoville scale is really no joke.
What a beautiful event
I was really cool to see how crowded this event was and all kinds of people came out to enjoy their love for hot peppers. I don't know if this heat is something that is still a hype or if it is here to stay.
But these kinds of free entrance events create an easy step in mode if you are curious at trying something.
Here the guys from Heatsupply had their stuff showcased and they also have a nice blend with a lot more mild hot sauces which are way easier to digest.
I guess I will be showing up next year as well again, even if it were only for the seedlings. They must have sold out faster than expected, I see a market for it ;)
But one thing I know for sure....feeling hot has never been so relaxed on a Sunday!
My son would love this but my wife would not. She finds the weakest shit to be smoking hot. Lol
Hahaha yeah. Not a place for the weak ones! Curious how that works in your house then with all of these tastes :D
Dinner planning is a nightmare…
@karinxxl They are very nice places to visit these types of fairs, it's always good to get to know them, while enduring the heat a little bit. Good for you.
A really nice fair indeed. This was a good one!
pepper is the perfect addition to the fantastic tumeric plant to potentiate its goodness
A tumeric plant? It that easy to grow? (I though this was a rootplant)
ha ha!! you are so cruel 😃
I thought you were detoxing to get ready to enter the eating competition!!
Hahaha wow that would be total mayhem on the empty stomach and then eat those Peppers. Not for me! Haha
Yeah but come on. You voluntarily sign up for the competition. You know it will be hot. And then leaves after the 5th pepper already? What did you expect?
Good entertainment :D
Oh, my stomach would burn from that hot sauce. But my niece would love this hot festival hahaha, she likes spicy food. Good luck with growing the plants you took 🤞
Hahaha i like a good Spice in there but all of these sauces are literally the ones you want to handle with gloves on. We have a huge sauce eater here in the house and those bottles disappear really fast haha.
They say it gives like and endorfine rush.
Curious on the plants as well! Will take a couple of months but the last few years had good results
Yummie, next time I am around during this festival, I need to be there
Haha you surely should! These kinds of thing are damn fun.
I presume you are a spicy eater as well?
Of course, without (hot) spices, food is boring :)