GET ready to feel the burn.
The Great Dorset Chilli Festival returns next month – and organisers say it will be ‘hotter than ever’.
Among the star attractions will be celebrity chef who has a renowned restaurant in Lyme Regis.
The festival will be held at Stock Gaylard deer park at Lydlinch near Sturminster Newton on Saturday, August 5 and Sunday, August 6.
From 10am to 5pm, visitors will find the greatest number of artisan chilli sauce makers together in one event in the UK.
Alongside chilli plant competitions, chilli sauce competition and even chilli eating competitions.
For visitors who like chilli but fear the heat, the majority of the artisan sauce makers create milder sauces for ‘less robust palettes’, with all the flavour profiles of the hot sauces, but without the burn.
The organisers always cater for ‘chilli-haters’, too, with carefully selected artisan foods from around the region including gourmet mushrooms, speciality black pepper from Cambodia, gin, kimchi, charcuterie from Somerset, lots of cheeses, biltong, cooking sauces and more.
Children will be kept entertained all day with the bouncy castles, rides, circus skills workshops, face-painting and falconry displays.
You can also watch the chilli eating competition, which takes place each afternoon at 4pm or visit the talk tent where local chefs demonstrate some of their favourite dishes.
Mark Hix will be in the kitchen on Saturday, and Mark Hartstone of La Fosse in Cranborne will be cooking on both Saturday and Sunday.
The chilli cook-off competition is taking a break this year, but hopes to be back in 2024.
Other talks in the talk tent include a fascinating insight into how capsaicin, the ‘hot’ chemical in chillies, is being used in medicine by Bath-based researcher Dr Tim Woodman.
Plant experts will talk about how to get the best results when growing chilli plants at home.
Live music includes Dorset bands Quinns Quinney, The Mother Ukers and Jamarca, plus stompin’ bluegrass from Big Joe Bone and of course familiar Mexican tunes from the roving three-piece Mariachi band.
Visitors can enjoy the music with some delicious street food and a local cider, ale, or a rum cocktail, or perhaps a glass of bubble tea or a Dorset-roasted coffee.
Reduced price online tickets are selling fast at greatdorsetchillifestival.co.uk/tickets at £8 adult. Full price tickets available at the gate.
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