The 2nd Great Dorset Chilli Festival – 4th & 5th August 2012
A chilli heat wave looks likely for the first weekend in August when the second Great Dorset Chilli Festival takes place in the relaxed surroundings of the Earl of Shaftesbury’s St Giles Park in Wimborne St Giles. Chilli farmers and chilli sauce makers will be displaying their produce. Chilli experts give talks on chilli plant growing, local chefs demonstrate recipes using chilli. Chilli competitions.
Organisers are expecting an even hotter weekend of “chilli fiesta” after last year’s success. A spokesman says “After the success of our first chilli festival last year, we have increased the number of stands by 50 %, arranged more for children and added more talks, more cooking demonstrations and more music. This remains a specialist food festival though, we don’t want to dilute the chillies too much”
New for this year is a chilli plant competition, open to amateur growers only, plus an exhibition of a wide range of chilli plant varieties. We will also be running the chilli sauce competition for professional producers and of course the ever-popular chilli-eating competition. There will be background live music and local beers and ciders. Hot food stalls have been carefully selected to showcase the best of popular international cuisine.
Speakers include Joy Michaud of Sea Spring Seeds in West Bexington who developed the famous Dorset Naga chilli, which was once crowned the world’s hottest chilli. We also have speakers on smoking chillies and growing super-hot chillies in the UK.
Cooking demonstrations include Mark Hartstone of La Fosse Restaurant in Cranborne, the preserve-specialist author Vivien Lloyd, chilli-jam specialist Tessa Smith, and Julia Cotton of the Dorset-based cooking school Julia’s Kitchen.
Other attractions include bouncy castles, face painting, beer tent, local bands and tree climbing.
St Giles Park, the ancestral home to the Earls of Shaftesbury provides a great backdrop. The house and park are currently undergoing extensive renovations which will see St Giles House reinstated as a family home again after 50 years of neglect.
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