About Chili Klaus


A strong community

Chili Klaus is today the center of a strong community with over 500,000 followers on social media and around a quarter of a billion views of chili tasting videos. Here, chili is tasted together with famous personalities from both Denmark and abroad – with both sweat on the forehead and laughter in the belly. The videos have won a Zulu Award, and Chili Klaus has also been a guest on the award-winning American talk show Hot Ones , which is watched by millions worldwide.

In addition, Chili Klaus gives lectures, performs at festivals and participates in chili events both at home and abroad.

The chili factory is located at the harbor in Aarhus and houses six permanent employees as well as a number of students who combine student life with part-time jobs. The range now includes several hundred products – all with chili as the main ingredient and each marked with a wind force number from 1 to 15. The products are exported to Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands and the Baltic countries, among others.

How it all began

In the summer of 2013, I was engaged at Bornholms Teater and lived on the island for two months. I had brought my chili plants with me – and a few hours before a performance I had an idea: What if we did a chili tasting, like we do a wine or beer tasting? Describe the taste, the nuances, the strength. It had to be tried.

The result was a little different, though. Ten minutes later I was completely burned out and realized that it might not have been the best idea in the world right before a theater performance. But the video was recorded – on a small camera – and posted on my private Facebook page and YouTube. Without any plan.

It turned out to be the start of a life-changing chili adventure.

The roots of passion

My childhood home was filled with specialty cheeses. My father was a dairyman and had an extra refrigerator in the garage just for cheese. Perhaps the curiosity for the strong and different was already aroused there.

But it wasn't until one evening at an Indian restaurant in London in the mid-1980s that things really started to happen. I ordered the strongest dish on the menu – and the experience was almost transcendent. I was sold.

In Denmark in the 90s, it was almost impossible to find hot chilies. So I started buying seeds from abroad and growing them myself. It was fascinating to watch how a small seed turned into a giant chili plant – and to learn about the thousands of varieties, strengths and flavor profiles that exist. There are over 3,000 conventional chili varieties – and almost 10,000 if you count the wild ones.

Chili in everyday life

Today, chili is a natural part of my everyday life. In addition to its taste, chili also has a wide range of health benefits – from vitamin C and beta-carotene to increased metabolism and reduced inflammation. Chili may even help lower the risk of heart disease.

I always have hot sauce in the fridge. It's the icing on the cake – that little extra that goes with almost any dish. More and more restaurants offer spicy dishes and hot sauce as standard. That wasn't the case just ten years ago.

Chili is not just an ingredient – ​​it is a lifestyle, a passion and a way of seeing the world.
Thank you for following along.
Stay spicy – ​​and take good care of yourself!
Chili Klaus