East Midlands Chillifest proves a mouth-watering success at new venue of Southwell Racecourse
It wasn't just the festival-goers that were sizzling in the heat at Southwell Racecourse.
The Scoville ratings were through the roof as participants tucked into spoonfulls of chillis from the more bland to the extreme.
It was not a weekend for the feint of heart as competition followed competition to see who could outdo the heat of a balmy summer heatwave coupled with fiery chicken wings or burgers as the contest heated up.
The East Midlands Chillifest, at the new venue this year, was, competition aside, a chilled affair enjoyed by families, some of whom camped for the weekend.
Scoville ratings are traditionally used to rate the chilli heat of food. The Scoville method was developed in 1912 by Wilbur Scoville and is a measurement of the pungency of spice, a function of capsaicin concentration.
There was plenty happening over the three-day festival, Friday to Sunday, with entertainment, music, activities for children and street food from Caribbean to Greek and pizza.
There were a number of stalls too selling a variety of chilli sauces that could be sampled before purchase and you had to know your limits.
Now in its sixth year, the festival featured UK Chilli Queen Shahina Waseem who faced-off against Mr Spicy, Arturo Rencricca, on the main stage on Saturday evening.
Shahina also the chicken wing eating competition while Nottingham's famous Annie's Burger Shack was responsible for the fiery burger-eating competition.
