The world’s hottest chilli comes to Cyprus

A couple hand rearing plants and turning the produce into jams and sauces is about to take things up a notch. ALIX NORMAN gets a taste for something spicy

At 2.2 million on the Scoville Scale, the Carolina Reaper is widely acknowledged to be the spiciest chilli in the world. But Cypriot chilli expert Vasilis Joseph is growing a chilli so unbelievably hot, it puts the Reaper to shame!

“It’s from Nepal, where they really like their chillies,” he reveals. “But even by Nepalese standards, this variety is acknowledged to be ridiculously hot. You have to remember that while the Carolina Reaper has been designated the hottest chilli in the west, in the east, they don’t really care about the Guinness Book of Records, so not every variety gets a mention!”

Vas’ mind-blowingly spicy chillies are yet to be named. “We were given the plant by a friend from Nepal who saw we were growing chillies, and even she didn’t know the name of the variety. But we’ve started propagating it and – my goodness – just thinking about it makes even my eyes water!”

Vas is a chilli expert. Under the name Fire Alchemy by Freya Labs, he and his wife Greta have been cultivating chillies for several years, hand-rearing each plant and transforming the chillies into a unique product range of fermented chilli sauces and chilli salts, and fresh chilli jams. There are 10 varieties of each, ranging from the palate-teasing Black Bullet Jalapeño to the eye-watering Naga, and what makes them all unique, says Vas, is their simplicity…

“You won’t find mango and passionfruit and guava in our sauces, jams or salts,” he explains. “We’re not into mixing and matching; this isn’t ketchup! Instead we focus on just one chilli variety in each bottle or jar. So you get a very pure, really simple flavour profile that nevertheless packs a huge punch.”

Fire Alchemy began in 2019. But it wasn’t launched on a whim. “In 2017, Greta was a corporate lawyer, I ran my own marketing agency, and all was well with the world,” says Vas. “Then, in 2018, I had a horrific car accident that shattered my spine and left me staring at the ceiling for nigh on six months. It made us re-evaluate our priorities: was what we were doing with our lives worthwhile, were we prepared for the future, and what were we really giving back to the world?”

During his recovery, a chance encounter with a Cherry Bomb chilli plant gave Vas an idea: why not start a community-focused project that brought a little more flavour and a spot more greenery into the world? “And, as part of my physiological and psychological therapy, I decided to propagate a few chilli plants…

“I ended up,” he laughs, “with kilos and kilos of chillies – far more than Greta and I could eat alone, or even gift to friends! So I started researching what could be made with chillies – spending days and weeks looking into the best methods of growing the plants, harvesting the chillies, and turning them into something that would introduce a unique taste to Cyprus…”

Four years on, that chance encounter with a single Cherry Bomb has transformed Vas and Greta’s lives, providing them with a home- and hand-grown business that’s known for producing small-batch chilli products from a dedicated lab in Nicosia.

“We’re both still working full-time jobs,” says Vas. “Greta is a lawyer, and I continue to take on marketing clients. But we’re also running our chilli business too! Really, it’s a labour of love; something we do for the community as much as for ourselves. Because one thing we’ve known from the outset is that being a commercial chilli giant is against everything we stand for!”

Fire Alchemy focuses on community, sustainability and humility. “Every chilli plant is grown from scratch, always organically and never using pesticides or antibiotics,” says Vas. “The last thing we want is to lose our integrity by buying up chillis from who knows where. Instead, we know every single one of our plants – they’re almost like family members!”

Initially, the couple propagated the plants in their own apartment. But when that became a little unmanageable – “we still have 250 plants on our balconies!” laughs Vas – they turned to the terraces and patios of friends. “And now, we have our own urban garden in Lakatamia, as well as the equipment needed to produce the fermented sauces and salts, as well as the fresh jams – all from scratch…”

Working to strictly controlled food standards, and using everything from an industrial fermenting machine to a specialised boiler, Vas and Greta’s product line has been going down a treat island-wide at artisanal markets and craft fairs. “We do everything ourselves,” says Vas. “Growing, tending, harvesting, fermenting, mixing, bottling, labelling. We produce our own online content and images, run our own social media, and hand-package every product ourselves. Nothing is outsourced, which does make it hard work. But it’s worth it to see someone take that first taste of chilli sauce; to see their eyes widen as they experience the heat, the flavour, and the aroma. And that’s one of the reasons we’d never want our products in supermarket aisles – there’s a personal connection between our product and our community that we’d never want to lose.

“And strangely, you can never tell who will enjoy our products,” he acknowledges. “I’ve been in marketing for years, and I still can’t identify our demographic – our sauces and jams are a favourite with everyone from retired expats to hipster millennials, staid businessmen to ageing grandmas! We were at a Craft Festival last year,” he recalls, “and met a little old yiayia. She was utterly against trying our products at first but, persuaded by her granddaughter, she eventually gave one of the sauces a go.

“Ever since,” Vas concludes, “she’s been one of our best customers, graduating from the Cayenne Yellow to the Carolina Reaper – which, apparently, she uses in everything from her tasty tzatziki to her Sunday souvla! I’m pretty sure that, come the launch of our mind-blowingly hot Nepalese variety, she will be right at the front of the line!”

For more information, visit https://fire-alchemy.com/ or the Facebook page ‘Fire Alchemy’