Daniel Všetečka loves chillis, His Palito company grows chillis right here in the Czech Republic and harvests several tons each year. These are then sold fresh, dried and in sauces.

Daniel is also a chilli-eating competion champion, winning first place at the Plechová Huba contest.

The ‘heat’ from a chilli is measured using Scoville Heat Units (SHU) with 100 or less for a regular bell pepper, to over three million for the fearesome Carolina Reaper. SHU is chemically a linear scale. However, by perception it’s more like a logarithmic scale – tolerance builds logarithmically. In the video below, Daniel demonstrates how he prepares for chilli-eating contests (in Czech with English subtitles).

Chillis originated in Mexico, but are now grown Worldwide, with China as the largest producer. The chilli is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum. When Christopher Columbus and his crew reached the Caribbean, they were the first Europeans to encounter Capsicum. They called them ‘peppers’ because, like black pepper of the genus Piper known in Europe, they have a spicy, hot taste.

You can order a wide range of chilli products online at https://www.palito.cz/ or pick up a jar of one of their sauces from Black Bettie’s Bar and Grill in Prague 2 https://www.blackbetties.com/online-ordering Black Betties even have their own house-brand sauce recipes, manufactured by Palito.

This article wasn’t sponsored by Palito – we just liked Daniel’s story and his products.