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Contributor Competitions, Guerilla Chilli Growing, News, Our News, Uncategorized, What's Happening

Chilli growing photos: Our Competition winners

This June will see the launch of our new cook book Wahaca, Mexican food at home, which will talk you through some of our favourite recipes from the past 5 years in the restaurant. And as you may know, we’ve saved a page in amongst these delicious recipes for our most green fingered customers to show off their growing skills.

We had a huge number of entries in our competition (including from far flung outposts of Eastern Europe) and we’ve now chosen our winners, who will all have their picture featured and will receive a copy of the book to treasure when it has been printed. So congrats to Heather Rainbow, Laura Halvey, Rosie Martin, Nick Owers, Michael Anton, Jose-Paolo Roldan, Alistair ban Ryne, Alex Plim and Anna-Lucy Terry. You’re all winners and we’d recommend the book as a early Christmas present for all of your friends. Please send us an email to ola@wahaca.co.uk with your address so we can post a book out to you when they’re printed.

For all of those people who sent in photos that haven’t been chosen, we’re sorry that we couldn’t include you all, but please do keep up the chilli growing and don’t forget to check out our chilli expert’s series of videos for tips to help you along the way. One person who deserves a special mention is Sarah Walker, who sent in the photo below. It’s the first time we’ve seen chillies growing like this. Is that some kind of cross breed? We’ll have to get some seeds from your next harvest.

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Valentine’s Day gets a little spicy

If you’re looking for your Valentine’s Day to go out with a bang, then look no further than Wahaca, home to more aphrodisiac ingredients than Aphrodite’s larder. Just check out these (in no way spurious) claims that indigenous Mexican ingredients carry:

Avocados: Whether it’s mashed up in a guacamole or whizzed into a salsa, this silky smooth fruit of the gods is a great way to get things started. William Dampier, a nineteenth century English adventurer, said “It is reported that this fruit provokes to lust” and if that wasn’t enough, The Aztecs called it ahuacatl, meaning “testicle tree”. So, if you can get that image out of your head, woo your Valentine with some guacamole and tortilla chips.

Chillies: It’s long been known that the capsicum contained in chillies provide the right amount of heat to spice up any Valentine’s evening. But where does this rumor come from? Well, chillies contain vitamins A and C, as well as increasing the metabolism by as much as twenty five percent after the ingestion. So don’t forget to liberally pour over your chile de arbol salsa and let the heart start racing.

Chocolate: It’s no coincidence that chocolates are the most popular Valentine’s gift and the best way to a ladies heart. In fact, the tale is told that the Mexican Emperor Moctezuma drank fifty golden goblets of chocolate a day to enhance his libido and assure the continuance of his line. Probably didn’t do great things for his teeth mind you. It’s a complex food source containing theobromine, a substance related to caffeine, which gives an energy boost as well as phenylethylamine and seratonin, which are mood-lifting agents. We’d recommend trying some chicken mole tacos which have a salsa made with chilli and chocolate. Double trouble.

Vanilla: Another indigenous Mexican ingredient, which yes, is said to get things stirring in the right direction. In fact, Mexico’s Totonac people, whose region is the original home of vanilla, tell a folk tale in which Xanat, the youngest daughter of a fertility goddess, fell in love with a local youth. Since she was a goddess and he a human, they were unable to marry. Bad times. But to express her eternal love, she transformed herself into the first vanilla plant, whose aroma would always provide him with pleasure. Ahhhhhh. If that’s not enough to get you ordering our flan de la casa (with its wicked caramel sauce), then you’re a lost cause.

Passion fruit: Well the name says it all(even if it’s actually nothing to do with that kind of passion), and we think it’s best ordered in our Passion Fruit Margarita to sip throughout your meal. As you’ll probably know the tequila we use is made from 100% pure agave. And as the agave plant, is widely believed to boost the libido. That would make for 100% pure potent passion in a glass. So watch out.

Contributor Competitions, Guerilla Chilli Growing, Learn at Wahaca, News, Our News, Uncategorized, What's Happening

Send us your chilli plant photos and be part of the Wahaca cookbook

Since we opened we’ve been trying our hardest to turn you into green fingered chilli growers with free chilli seeds for over 4 and half million people and counting. The response has been so great with hundreds of you getting in touch to tell us of your tales of growing glory, bountiful crops and the satisfaction of a fully home grown salsa. We even appointed a Chilli Expert from amongst you, to help out with any growing pains and his videos have proved invaluable support for chilli novices around the world.

Now we have the perfect opportunity to celebrate the most artistic horticulturalists in our growing fan club. We want to use your chilli plant photos in our new Wahaca cookbook.

Yes you heard, a new Wahaca cookbook, hitting the shelves in June and you can be a part of it.

So if your image library is an homage to Percy Thrower with all the style of Rankin, email your chilli plant pictures (in as high a resolution as possible) to us at ola@wahaca.co.uk. We’d love to see everything from your first shoots, through to your first chillies and your bumper harvest. We’ll pick our favourites, who will be featured in the book and will each receive a copy when it’s published. One to show the grandkids for sure.

You’d better be quick though, the competition closes on Monday 13th February. Good luck!

Oh, we almost forgot, here’s the serious bit: By submitting your photograph you are granting Hodder & Stoughton and Wahaca a royalty-free, non-exclusive right to use the photograph in print and online, and to archive the image for future use. Got that? Good.