As the winter fast approaches, Brits are cranking up the heat…and we’re not talking central heating and thermal underwear. New National Chilli Week research released today by PERi-PERi professionals Nando’s reveals how a 1/3 of us are now munching on the hot stuff at least once a week, whoever said British food was bland?
Eating far more chilli now than we ever did 10 years ago, stats show how a staggering 98% of us now add spice to our food on a regular basis, with only 2% of cool cucumbers revealing how they don’t eat food spicy at all.
Knowing chilli’s reputed aphrodisiac qualities, nearly 1/2 of those asked admitted they would use it to add some spice to their love life! Surprisingly, there was a clear split between men and women – showing that both sexes are as eager as each other to use chilli to get steamy under the covers and put some heat back in the bedroom!
Our growing Tongues of Steel is something that has not gone unnoticed by Nando’s Chilli buyer Michael Plumber “In the past year alone we have seen consumers charge up the heat scale in our restaurants…orders for our Extra Hot chicken has gone up by over a third, with our milder Lemon & Herb baste slightly reducing…it seems that if people are fancying a bit of spice, they are going the whole hog…no half measures on the Peri-o-meter here!”
As well as the rising sales figures, celebs are increasingly being put on the hot spot, with a host of famous faces being caught in Nando’s restaurants having a quick chilli fix. JLS, Dizzee Rascal and Pixie Lott are forever waxing lyrical about the spicy chicken, the members of the X-Factor house are using it to lubricate the vocal chords and Denise Van Outen is a devoted fan “I am a chilli chick…it not only tastes great, but its also known to give you an extra kick in more ways than one’
Denise is of course referring to the aphrodisiac qualities of the spice, not only giving the taste buds a toasting, research proves chilli may also work to loosen up the libido, Plumber comments “maybe that’s the reason behind the steady increase, we are just in the mood for love!”
Did you know?
• Nando’s PERi-PERi originated when the African Bird’s Eye Chilli was introduced to the Portuguese and the locals called this fiery little chilli Pili-Pili, which means pepper-pepper in Swahili, so PERi-PERi it became
• Contrary to popular opinion, it is not the seeds that are the hottest part of a chilli, but the white pith that surrounds them and runs in thick veins through the pod
• Drinking milk or placing a spoonful of yoghurt in your mouth is the best way to relieve the burning sensation of chilli, as water will just spread the capsaicin oil around
• It is said that chillies can help fight off winter colds and eating them certainly releases endorphins that helps lift the spirits
• Chillis are packed with vitamins and can help reduce cholesterol
• Chilli contains such high levels of Vitamin D that some athletes eat them prior to exercising to reduce the risk of injury
• Capsaicin, which apart from giving chillis their fiery flavour, is an effective painkiller, blocking pain signals to the brain
• The alkaloids from the capsaicin stimulate the action of stomach and intestine improving the whole digestion process.
• Today there are probably 400 different chillis grown, and are now one of the most widely cultivated crops.