Nando’s survey proves that Brits have a taste for heat!

As the winter fast approaches, Brits are cranking up the heat…and we’re not talking central heating and thermal underwear. New National Chilli Week research released today by PERi-PERi professionals Nando’s  reveals how a third of us are now munching on the hot stuff at least once a week, whoever said British food was bland?

Eating far more chilli now than we ever did 10 years ago, stats show how a staggering 98% of us now add spice to our food on a regular basis, with only 2% of cool cucumbers revealing how they don’t eat food spicy at all.

Knowing chilli’s reputed aphrodisiac qualities, nearly 1/2 of those asked admitted they would use it to add some spice to their love life!  Surprisingly, there was a clear split between men and women = showing that both sexes are as eager as each other to use chilli to get steamy under the covers and put some heat back in the bedroom!

Our growing Tongues of Steel is something that has not gone unnoticed by Nando’s Chilli buyer Michael Plumber “In the past year alone we  have seen consumers charge up the heat scale in our restaurants…orders for our Extra Hot chicken has gone up by over a third, with our milder  Lemon & Herb baste slightly reducing…it seems that if people are fancying a bit of spice, they are going the whole hog…no half measures on the Peri-o-meter here!”

As well as the rising sales figures, celebs are increasingly being put on the hot spot, with a host of famous faces being caught in Nando’s restaurants having a quick chilli fix.  JLS, Dizzee Rascal and Pixie Lott are forever waxing lyrical about the spicy chicken, the members of the X-Factor house are using it to lubricate the vocal chords and  Denise Van Outen is a devoted fan “I am a chilli chick…it not only tastes great, but its also known  to give you an extra kick in more ways than one’

Denise is of course referring to the aphrodisiac qualities of the spice, not only giving the taste buds a toasting, research proves   chilli may also work to loosen up the libido, Plumber comments “maybe that’s the reason behind the steady increase, we are just in the mood  for love!

They also sent me some rather cool chilli facts but I will save those for another day.

The latest one ive tried was the Nando’s BBQ Piri Piri Rub, i got it from Tesco and i think it was on offer for 89p,The packet says its medium heat with a BBQ flavour and is suitable for all meat and veg.

It weighs in at 25g which doesn’t seem to be a lot but it does go along way, i probably used about 1/4 of a packed on 2 large chicken breasts.

As i was going to BBQ the chicken i flattened them out and scored them a bit to allow the rub to get into the meat, i also rubbed a little olive oil in to the chicken to stop it sticking to the BBQ.

The result was pretty good, It certainly added a fair amount of flavour to the chicken without being left to marinade, there was definitely a smokey BBQ flavour (actually BBQing them probably helped with that) along with a little bit of Piri Piri heat, it also had a nice hit of garlic and paprika

Its definitely something i will be trying of a range of meats and i’ll also try to get hold of the hot version. Keep an eye out for the review of that and other Nando’s products soon.

Chilli Up North Verdict : Great flavour, not to hot, perfect for last minute BBQ’s – 9/10 (Heat 5/10)