PROSPECT HEIGHTS — This weekend, the hottest event in the city may just be at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
For the 22nd year, the BBG is hosting its Chile Pepper Festival this Saturday, an all-day event showcasing an all-pepper farmers market, pepper garden tours, 45 different food vendors, two firebreathing performances, live music and tastings.
The festival begins at 11 a.m. on the garden’s Cherry Esplanade where dozens of makers of chile-infused sauces, chocolates, pickles and sodas will set up shop until 6 p.m. Four local farms — three of them from Brooklyn — will also be on hand to sell fresh peppers.
And for those who want the hyperlocal experience, curator Maeve Turner will lead two half-hour tours, at 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., of the BBG herb garden, which grows nearly 20 different kinds of peppers, from mild bell peppers to the “Trinidad scorpion” pepper, which is one of the hottest peppers in the world with two million Scoville heat units, said BBG’s programs manager Anita Jacobs.
"There’s this weird and wonderful feeling of community” among “hardcore chile-heads,” she said of the festival’s crowd, who come from all over the country to find the world’s spiciest products.
For Jacobs, one of the best parts of the festival is people’s emotional reactions to the flavors, especially with products that combine chocolate and spice.
“Chocolate and chiles are both things people have very personal feelings about,” she said, saying that attendees often share personal memories of family members who cooked with a certain kind of pepper.
“People really have very, very personal, family experiences” to share, she said.
Festival-goers can also enjoy a half-dozen musical performances on the esplanade, including shows from local Brooklyn cumbia band Cumbiagra and the Cajun dancehall act Tee Chaoui Social Club from Louisiana.
The Chile Pepper Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, located at 990 Washington Ave., Brooklyn. Tickets to the festival cost $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors and is free for children under 12 and BBG members.
