It's getting spicy!

Julienne Sina drips just a tiny drop of akabanga onto a small piece of bread. "That's enough," assures the marketing manager of the Rwandan company Urwibutso Enterprises at the stand in Hall 10.2. And indeed: the chili oil develops a fierce spiciness even in small quantities.

It is made from the pili-pili chili plant, also called "African bird's eye chili," and vegetable oil. "We season almost everything with it, from meat to soups or sandwiches," says Julienne Sina. Her company not only produces the spicy drops and many other foods. It also supports rural development in Rwanda. Among other things, it runs a school for more than 2,000 children.

Akabanga, however, is just one of many spicy foods at the International Green Week. Just a few meters from the Rwandan stand, the Tropical Heat company is sampling Kenyan snacks. The potato chips mixed with lentils and nuts are flavored with chili and herbs in a variety of flavors, including lime.

South America meets South Africa

From Eswatini, known until 2018 as Swaziland, come Black Mamba sauces (Hall 10.2). The company, founded by an Ecuadorian woman and a local man, has ingredients such as chilies, fruits and herbs grown by women in their gardens to organic standards and pays them a fair price. Black Mamba's offerings range from an extra-hot hot sauce to an aromatic basil-cayenne pesto.

Moroccans also love spicy food, as exhibitors in Hall 18 show. The Moroccan women's initiative Coopérative Nissae Alhorate, for example, produces the popular harissa, a spice paste made from fresh chilies, cumin, coriander seeds, garlic, salt and olive oil. It is eaten with bread, but also with numerous dishes, including the stew tajine.

Mustard creations from the Harz Mountains

From North Africa to Germany: Simone Seiboth is the owner and managing director of the Quedlinburg Mustard Manufactory. In Hall 23 b, she will be presenting her latest mustard creations to guests, including beer mustard or deep brown chocolate chili mustard.

These innovations are based on a recipe that is more than 1,000 years old. Ingredients in the slightly grainy creations include honey and apple cider vinegar. If the pure mustard flavor is not spicy enough, Simone Seiboth also offers a chili mustard and chili paste. Saxony-Anhalt can taste this hot!