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The first chili-eating competition was held on Saturday October 1 in Toulouse, with locally produced varieties. A team from France Télévisions met the producer, located in Ariège.
Red, green, small or fleshy, in a farm of Saint-Quentin-La-Tour (Ariege)there is pepper not to put in all hands. There are extremely strong varieties, but also milder ones. Jean-Philippe Turpin, producer, cultivates between 70 and 110 depending on the year. A great lover of peppers, he started growing them 11 years ago, despite popular belief that associates them with tropical climates. “In Ariège, I was told that I wouldn’t make it, that it was impossible to grow peppers in Ariège. I sowed all the seeds I had, and ended up with 25 varieties, and 500 plants“, he says.
The grower, who initially started for his personal consumption, is now the French producer who offers the most varieties. He also transforms part of his production himself, into chilli oil, or even into chilli paste or powder. Despite their gastronomic qualities, some peppers are dangerous, with a strength sometimes rated above 10/10. The producer refuses to sell these varieties to uninformed audiences. These peppers, among the strongest in the world, he reserved them for the first competition of pepper eaters, amateurs to their measure.