Banhoek Chilli Oil is a 100% natural small-batch chilli oil created from canola oil (rapeseed oil) and birds eye chillis, which are hand-picked, crushed and extracted with heat methods and no chemicals.

I make my own chilli oil each year from greenhouse chillis, so I regard myself as a bit of an expert. A clumsy one though, an attempt to grind dried chillies in a coffee grinder created an environment so deadly we had to abandon the kitchen for an hour or so.

Banhoek are a lot more professional and their oild can be used for cooking and as a flavouring oil for pizza, pasta, salads, stir fry, marinades, etc.

Rapeseed may turn the countryside a hideous yellow colour, but the oil has low levels of saturated fat and high levels of monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, said to be good for or heart health. Chilli Oil is known for boosting metabolism, reducing inflammation, and aiding digestion as well as just being a great thing to have in the larder 

Banhoek Chilli Oil is GMO-free and comes from South Africa,. Made from sun-dried, hand-crushed bird’s eye chillies and premium canola oil and is the number one oil in SA

Brothers-in-law Ken Kinsey-Quick and Adi Meintjes make it in the Banhoek Valley near Stellenbosch, South Africa and have won Great Taste and Great British Food Awards

We tried a bottle of the garlic version and yes, okay, it is better than mine. We’ve been dribbling it on all kinds of things and it’s especially good on pizza. I am thinking of decanting the oil into a small bottle I can smuggle into pizza restaurants and surreptitiously use when no one is looking.

That’s just between us, though.

Banhoek Chilli Oil Original (RRP £8.50 – £9.50 /250ml) – Sainsbury’s

Banhoek Chilli Oil Garlic (RRP £12 /250ml) Harrods instore and online

For a full list of stockists, visit banhoekchillioil.com

Ken and his team favour people over automation, drawing the majority of their employees from the disadvantaged communities of the Banhoek Valley. Ken has also started an Emerging Farmers programme to uplift local growers, where all of their chillies are purchased from the local community. Banhoek Chilli Oil’s factory has designed its production processes to minimise wastage and its environmental footprint. As well as using the South African sun to dry its chillies, it uses alternative and green energy sources where possible.