The seeds and flesh of the chilli can both be eaten; removing the seeds reduces the heat of the chilli. It's very important to avoid contact with the eyes or any sensitive skin - even washing your hands after preparing chillies may not be enough to remove all the capsaicin, the volatile oil in the fruit that gives it its hot taste.

There's an official heat scale for chillies known as the Scoville scale, developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912. To give you an idea of the range of heat in various chillies, a sweet pepper scores 0 on the scale, Jalapeño and chipotle chillies score anything between 2,500 to 10,000 and habanero and Scotch Bonnet score 80,000 to 300,000 plus!

Types of chilli you should be able to find quite easily include: bird's-eye, which is frequently used in Asian cooking - it's hot but usually bearable for most tastes; habanero which is small and blow-your-head-off hot; jalapeno which has a smoked, dried version called chipotle; and Scotch Bonnet which is yellow, green or red and lethally hot.

You can buy chillies fresh, dried (whole chilli flakes or chillies ground into powder), preserved in oil or made into condiments such as Tabasco. Fresh chillies sold in packets in supermarkets usually have a heat scale on them which is helpful. Mild chillies can be stuffed in the same way you would a sweet pepper. Poblano chillies are used in the Mexican speciality 'chiles rellenos' - stuffed with cheese and fried.

Chillies are an essential part of Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, North African cooking (harissa is a thick, fiery paste made from chillies and spices) and many Asian dishes. They're the basis of a good salsa and can be combined with herbs and other spices to form a dry rub for meat or fish.