While the majority of chillies need a warm or hot climate to grow well, a Tasmanian grower has been able to produce some of the world's hottest at his Launceston home.

Regan Parkinson is self confessed chilli-mad and the 2017/18 Tasmanian summer has given him the perfect conditions to grow one of his favourite fruits.

"They [chillies] absolutely love heat so it's pretty important in Tassie if you want to grow chilli successfully you have a glasshouse or a polytunnel," Mr Parkinson said.

Regan Parkinson inside the polytunnel that he made to produce his chillies in Tasmania. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Fred Hooper )

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Using a home made polytunnel, Mr Parkinson has 53 chilli plants, and among those he has what some people consider to be the hottest chilli in the world — the Carolina Reaper.

"That's about 1.8 to 2.2 million scoville units (SHU). Some people think Tabasco sauce is hot and Tabasco is only up to about 5,000 scoville units," Mr Parkinson said.

One of the varieties is a shrivelled, bright yellow fruit named the Yellow Seven chilli which, according to Mr Parkinson, gets its name from being able to heat around seven pots of stew.

"It's capsicum chenzo, it comes from the Caribbean. In the Caribbean they use it as an ingredient for anti-fouling for shipping pain and also as an ingredient in crowd control spray," Mr Parkinson said.

A Yellow Seven chilli, given the name because it is meant to be able to heat seven pots of stew. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Fred Hooper )

It would be fair to say that Mr Parkinson loves chilli and he said he would eat chilli in different forms two or three times per day.

"I eat it fresh, I make up a chilli salt mix where I have chilli flakes in a grinder with chilli-infused salt," he said.

"My wife gets a bit concerned sometimes because there would be five or six different condiments on the table, all with chilli in it."

Mr Parkinson claims his obsession with chilli came from his mother's "bland" cooking so he started using chilli to add flavour.

"When it's really hot I start hiccupping and my left eye starts watering which is rather weird. But it's always been the case," he said.

What helps the burn?

Dairy products are often associated with relieving the heat that follows a spicy meal, and Mr Parkinson said this is the only way to ease any pain.

"Water just won't do anything. It won't bind up the capsaicin which is the active ingredient that tricks your pain receptors and your brain into thinking you're being burnt," Mr Parkinson said.

These unripe Carolina Reaper chillies are thought to be the hottest variety in the world. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Fred Hooper )

"For those soft people out there that can't hack it, yes, milk is the only way to go. Or something with cream in it."

It is more than the taste for Mr Parkinson. He said he also enjoys the nutritional values that are held in this spicy fruit.

"Chilli has a hell of a health benefit. It's about seven times the vitamin C that an orange has," he said.

"I just don't get crook. When people at work or at home have got colds I'm virtually immune to it."

As the chillies are picked from the summer just passed, Mr Parkinson has been drying them for personal use and other chilli lovers too.

"I'll sell them online because there's a demand for it and I've spoken to a few local spice shops, Indian restaurants and a few sausage makers," Mr Parkinson said.

"There's always someone like me that will go into a restaurant or a butcher or a spice shop and want something really, really seriously hot."