British bred Chilli Odessey is a real stunner. The plants stay very compact at around 15 cm tall, making them perfect for window boxes and containers, and the purple-green foliage is lovely in its own right. They may be small, but they quickly cover themselves in masses of purple flowers, followed by lots of dark purple, almost black fruits that eventually ripen to a rosy red. As the fruits mature, the heat builds from a gentle 5,000 SHU up to a fiery 30,000 to 50,000 SHU. That hot, spicy flavour really belies their size. These chillies punch well above their weight. SOW: from February to April, indoors in a warm soil using trays or modules. Barely cover the seeds as they need light to germinate. GROW: pot up when large enough to handle into 7cm pots and grow on until about 10cm tall. lant into containers using a growbag style compost, which suits them very well, then move outside once all danger of frost has passed. When the first fruits have set, feed container grown plants weekly with tomato fertiliser. If you bring those containers back under cover in the autumn your last fresh chillies could be pushing into early November. ENJOY: small but mighty Odessey will add heat to any meal. Use as many or as few as you dare.
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