Capsicums, peppers and chillies, which come from the New World, contain a hot compound, capsaicin, in the fruit's inner wall. Measured in Scoville units, mild chillies come in at around 600 units, but the really hot ones get up to 350,000 units. As well as spicing up our food chilli extracts have been added to sprays, paints and rubber coatings to ward off insects, elephants, aquatic molluscs and rats.

Information kindly provided by The Eden Project. Text copyright the Eden Project 2003