Spanish entrepreneurs growing the hottest chillis in the world

SPANISH entrepreneurs are feeling the heat as they grow the world’s fiercest chillis in the Guadalhorce valley.

Pedro Gallardo and his partners are taking advantage of the booming chilli peppers market and have grown 39 different varieties on land in Cartama.

Their Mucho Macho has honed in on 20 varieties, which are being cultivated for the first time this year.

They plan to produce 40 tonnes in 2016.

“Hot chillis are in fashion, sales are booming, especially in the US and UK, China and Italy, which are the world’s biggest consumers,” said Pedro, “We are planning to sell the chillis fresh, dried and ground. We are also going to make spicy olive oils to be sold in Spain and abroad.”

Their hottest variety is the Carolina Reaper, which contains more than 2,200,000 Scoville units – the measure of how hot a chilli is. For an idea of scale, a Padron pepper measures 2,500 units.