Contact

A few words about me:

Gerald Schmidt is my name, Parndorf in the East Austrian Burgenland my usual place of residence and where I have my "ChilliGarden".

Typically, some 100 varieties get grown every year, represented by a few plants each, as space allows.
The start was in 1998; in 2000, I was already at the point where I was invited to serve as presenter on the ethnobotany of chile peppers at a seminar by Arche Noah, Austria's highly regarded version of the American Native Seeds/Search.
Since 2006, I try to focus on different projects:
Botanically, C. annuum var. glabriusculum (the chiltepin),
ethnobotanically, the relationship between different landraces, especially from Asia, and typical usage.

When I am around, I also offer workshops on different aspects of the botany and ethnobotany of the chile peppers: sampling parties of chile pepper chocolates, cooking workshops for "ChilliCuisine", presentations of the variety of chiltepins and other chiles.

Update: Since summer 2008, I am in China, and planning to stay. That's good for more research, more presentations on this website, but not as good for growing peppers myself (at least, so far). On the other hand, my last (interrupted) project to do a trial of Asian (mainly Chinese and other Himalayan) varieties is turning into a cooperation with Erich Stekovics, a well-known Austrian producer of quality agricultural products made from old varieties, landraces...

I am best reached by e-mail: gs [at] chilicult.com