THE chilli festival organisers have announced the schedule for their hugely popular talks and demonstrations for this year’s festival in Wimborne St Giles.

Local chef Sarah Ali Choudhury from Bournemouth promotes easy Indian recipes, the popular demonstration chef Mark Hartstone runs La Fosse Restaurant in Cranborne, Luke Stuart heads up the well-known White Pepper Chef Academy in Lychett Minster, Lisa Osman has her All Hallows cookery school just a few hundred meters away in the village of Wimborne St Giles, The Larder House’s James Fowler will be demonstrating the art of cocktail making, using chillies of course and chilli farmer Alex Duck will be demonstrating one of his smokers and talking about the Low ‘n’ Slow Barbeque Revolution.

For chilli plant growers the Dorset chilli expert Joy Michaud will be giving her Top Ten Tips for Growing Chillies.

Music booked for this year includes The Mother Ukers who have their chilli festival debut and will be strumming some magic on their ukuleles, and exciting solo artist Remedysounds who will be wow-ing the crowd with just his acoustic guitar and a loop pedal. Old favourites the Mexican Mariachi band and blues/roots expert Big Joe Bone will be there, and back after a year’s absence local heroes Quinns Quinney will perform their unique Dorset skiffle.

Stewarts Garden Centres are again sponsoring the prizes for the chilli plant competition.

Festival organiser Miles Halton said: “It’s been a good summer with plenty of heat and sunlight, and chilli plants will have been growing well. We hope to see a lot of ripe fruit on the plants entered in to the competition."

Eight teams have so far entered the chilli cook-off on the Sunday of the festival, competing to make the best gallon of chilli-con-carne in four hours. Always a crowd pleaser, the chilli-eating competition will be held at 4pm on both the Saturday and the Sunday.

The festival will showcase lots of chillies in every form imaginable, from fresh pods to chilli fudge, chill cider and chilli pickled eggs. There’s plenty for the chilli-hater too, with jams, chutney, cheeses, charcuterie, olives, brownies, baklava and artisan breads all available, plus ironwork, ceramics, wicker baskets and wooden chopping boards. Competitions, children’s entertainment, falconry, plant exhibition, beer tent, cocktail bar, cider tent and international street food add to the fun.

Visit www.GreatDorsetChilliFestival.co.uk

It takes place on August 5 and 6.