It is possible that you like a touch of heat with your curry at home, perhaps chilli flakes on your marmalade. I admit to biting into the occasional fresh green chilli though I do have the sense not to try the same trick with a Scotch bonnet. There are some who are made of stronger stuff. There have to be. Walk into the spice shop along Rye Harbour Road and you’ll know why, with certainty, there are people whose senses are attuned to the extreme.
The Rye Spice Company was established 20 years ago by the Hollands family. The family bought the land in 1987 and built their factory around the time of the great storm. Originally, the factory operated as Versatility Workboats, making fishing trawlers. Robert Hollands Snr was a successful fisherman in Rye for some 30 years, with both his sons Robbie and Glenn working with him at one time. They built trawlers for more than eight years until new fishing boat licensing laws came into effect when they decided to move into something else.
After importing a number of products – starting with yeast – they found a market for pepper. Gradually, a demand grew for other spices and herbs – and The Rye Spice Company was born.
The company, run by brothers Robbie, Glenn and Glenn’s wife Anita, buys by the tonne and repacks into pots and bags. It supplies the catering industry, prisons, schools, wholesalers, supermarkets, markets and stores with pallets of herbs, spices, fruit and nuts.
Not content with selling to the trade, it has now moved into retail. It has turned its office into a spice shop stocking salsa, chutney, pickle, curry pastes, pesto, sauces, cooking ingredients, snacks, rice, hand turned wooden gifts and . . . those specialist chillies.
In the spice world pungency is measured in Scoville heat units. To give you an idea: a pimento measures about 900 on the Scoville scale, jalapeño and chipotle about 3,500 to 10,000, Scotch bonnet anywhere from 100,000 to 350,000. Knowing that you can browse the Rye Spice Company’s chilli section of 40 or more products.
They range from a mild Panca chilli at 500 on Scoville to the deadly hot Naga or Ghost chilli. This is 1,200,000 on the scale and can be as high as 2 million, making it the hottest commercially available chilli in the world. Naga is only for the brave. How brave are you?
The shop is open 8am-5pm Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday. You can also buy online. Tel 01797-225015
Photo: Tony Nunn