Remembering Heston Blumenthal’s visit to the Ranch 10 years ago

11 December 2023: Today we are remembering Heston Blumenthal’s visit to the Chilli Ranch 10 years ago today.

Heston was filming his series “Great British Food” and visited us on this day back in 2013. Specifically, he was filming and doing research for season 2, episode 2 “Indian Curry” episode which was broadcast on 8 May 2014.

The highlight, or some may consider it a lowlight, was Heston and Shawn each eating a whole Moruga Scropion chilli pepper. At that time the Moruga was the hottest chilli in the world with a Scoville rating of 1.2 million. The enclosed picture was taken about 20 minutes later after filming had stopped; however, both Heston and Shawn were suffering from the infamous capsaicin-cramps. This is where the capsaicin irritates the nerve endings in the digestive tract causing a cramping type feeling. Although uncomfortable, these cramps are harmless.

If you’ve never seen the episode it’s certainly worth a watch. Heston’s glasses fogged up after he ate the chillies and the ranch visit certainly went down well and made for some excellent TV. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqA9V3ETKEA