The mouth says fiery, the brains says be careful, the taste buds say terrific - that's the charm of the chilli.

Chillis are native to Mexico, where they are the cornerstone of an ancient and fabulously varied cuisine. The chilli was first used as long as 9,000 years ago to add unrivalled colour and flavour to an array of dishes. Once you get into their spicy, yet complex flavours, you'll understand why they've remained so popular over the centuries.

There are around two hundred varieties, ranging from the mild to searingly hot, from tiny berries no larger than peppercorns, to big chillies larger than an adult's fist. In between is a cornupia of shapes and sizes, colours and flavours, as well as different degrees of heat.

The 'heat' of chilli peppers can be measured in Scoville Heat Units: in 1912 pharmacist Wilbur Scoville from America devised the Scoville scale, which scores a capsicum or bell pepper at zero, and a habanero at 500,000 - jalapenos score an average of about 3,000.

The hottest chilli on record is the Red Savina Habanero, which scores a positively scorching 570,000 on the Scoville scale however a UK company claims to have developed a chilli (the Dorset Naga) that measures around 900,000 on the Scoville scale.

Chillies are spicy due to a chemical known as capsaicin (pronounced cap-SAY-a-sin) found in the flesh and seeds. Capsaicin can cause severe burns to the skin and is often used as the basis for anti-mugging sprays as it is a natural irritant.

By far the most common chilli in Mexico (and the one most widely used by Discovery) is the jalapeno. Wonderfully versatile, this medium-hot chilli has been used for centuries in Mexican cooking.

At Discovery, apart from selling bottled sliced green and red jalapenos, we use a wide variety of chillies across many of our products as part of the overall blend of herbs and spices.

And proving the old adage that a little of what you fancy does you good, chillies are packed full of vitamins A and C, and have demonstrated having a wonderfully uplifting all round effect.