A product made by a Penrith-based food firm has been crowned “king of the world” at the National Chilli Awards.
Mr Vikki’s King Naga is made using one of the hottest chillies on the planet and it now has a global reputation, having scooped the top honour as the highest scoring product at a worldwide competition where the firm was pitched in with entries from America, Australia and Europe.
Since Adam Marks set up the business in 2005, its range of pickles, sauces, jams, mustards and chutneys have picked up over 140 Great Taste Awards and two much sought after Golden Fork accolades — but this latest success is the spiciest to date.
Adam said he was “over the moon” that King Naga had become supreme champion at such a prestigious event. Formerly a chef at Ullswater’s Leeming House Hotel, Adam started Mr Vikki’s in 2005 and the business has had a stall at Keswick market for the past 17 years.
Of King Naga, the Nation Chilli Awards judges said: “The aroma immediately invites your taste buds and gets you salivating. Wonder, aromatic spices which are brilliantly balanced.
“Superb naga flavour and heat supported by excellent Indian style spices and perfect acidity. The oil helps carry the flavour and makes it last. Excellent product.”
Adam said King Naga was his “personal favourite” as well. “It’s a very fragrant chilli — it has also got that searing heat, but you can put it with mayonnaise and it creates a real depth of flavour,” he said.
When he turned 40, Adam decided to set up Mr Vikki’s after deciding that he needed some more spice in his life.
“I wanted to go and do something a bit different,” said Adam, a self-confessed chilli head for whom the hotter it is — the better! While he was at Leeming House, Adam said he worked with Indian people who introduced him to the three pillars of health — a triangle formed from the cornerstone ingredients of chilli, ginger and garlic.
He started making curries with them and a fork in the road appeared. Leeming House had won two AA rosettes while Adam was cheffing there, and was working towards a third, but he had grown tired of preparing high end food, day in day out.
Having got a taste for spices, Adam’s chilli revolution began. All the products are now made at the firm’s base at Penrith’s Myers Lane Business Park and they are available in a host of stores, as well as online, but one of the company’s most popular outlets remains Keswick market on a Thursday and a Saturday.
Of Keswick market, Adam said: “For us it is the centre of the universe — you get exposure to everyone in the UK and it is really nice talking to customers face-to-face.
“We have done shows in Brighton and the Highlands of Scotland and people have come up to us and said we saw you at Keswick market. “Everyone seems to go to Keswick market. We don’t want to give it up.”
