China’s hidden chilli capital, and the birthplace of the chilli crisp

I am standing in arguably one of the biggest chili exchanges in the world. If you've ever had a spoon of chili crisp, chances are it's passed through here. Now it takes everything for me to not sneeze right now. The smell is so intense. We're in the city of Zhenyi in Guizhou province. It is one of the poorest provinces in China and most people outside the country have probably never heard of it. But there is one brand from Guizhou that has won the hearts of spice lovers and food content creators across the world. And the chilies that make the famous Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, they come from here. It might look like there's a lot of people shoveling chilies, bagging chilies right now, but it's actually low season so we're only dealing with dry chilies right now. But in season there'll be other piles of fresh chilies here as well. In 2025, 380,000 tons of chili pass through here. It was exported to more than 80 countries. But what makes Guizhou a rather unsung province in China than the nation's chili capital? China is known for some of the world's best spicy food, but most people only know about the mala numbing spice from Sichuan province or the hot pot that looks and tastes like lava in Chongqing. But Guizhou people are the first in Chinese history to be recorded as eating chilies. Their love of the heat dates back over 260 years to the Qing dynasty. Chilies grow best on slopes and high altitudes and Guizhou is the only Chinese province without a plain. This is one of the reasons why today Guizhou is China's top chili producer. But it's not just the sheer amount that makes Guizhou the spiciest province. If you visit a local market, you are bound to be overwhelmed by the variety of chili products that are impossible for me to identify. Xiao Luo, why are there so many different chili products around here and why do Guizhou people particularly love chili? When chilies were brought into China from Europe three centuries ago, people here just saw them as ornamental plants. Having little land or resources to grow crops or keep animals, Guizhou people began experimenting with this fiery plant in their diet and they got really creative with it. There's so many different ways you guys eat chilies. What are they used for? Do you have a special way of making your chilies? Does everybody have one? So we followed Ro's advice and visited a local family to see how they make their own Hu Lajiao, the pounded burnt chili. The Wong family makes the burnt chili just for themselves and this is their setup. A wok on a DIY stove and a metal chimney on their own rooftop. Well after families buy their dried chilies, a lot of them they just pound the chilies at home. Not only that, they get the kindle from the mountains right behind us, the fern to burn it and also pine to turn into ashes to mix into the stirring process. Normal Hu Lajiao is simply chilies burnt and pounded. Wong's version is even more traditional by adding pine needle ashes straight into the chilies to push the smoky flavour even further. I can almost choke. The chili looks really charred. It has the most fruity flavour, kind of like a cooked banana right now. Then you can add soy sauce, oil and any condiments you like. This becomes an everyday dip in a regular Hu Lajiao family. Now I just tried a bit and it basically adds a very strong char and introduces umami to a lot of the flavour. I'm going to try it with some meat now. The chili flavour and the coffee burnt char flavour equally as strong. I'm going to add it to some flavourful meat. It's just a flavour bomb in your mouth right now. Guizhou's chili culture has gone a long way. What was considered a way of survival in the past, or a simple household ingredient, has become a huge business opportunity. Chen Yao started as a chef in a local restaurant more than 30 years ago. Today he owns a chili farm, a chili factory and a restaurant chain that specializes in one thing, zhao la jiao, the fermented chili. Wow, this place looks like it was made for something else. Can you tell me a bit about the history of this location? So it was a bomb shelter? How big is this place and how far does it go? Making fermented chili is quite straightforward. The chilies are harvested, finely diced and mixed with some bai jiao, salt and sugar. After 180 days, they are ready to eat. Oh my gosh, yes. Wow, it's almost floral. The floral flavours are so much stronger. It's almost like a perfume. A lot more alcohol though, but also not as spicy as you think, and just really crunchy. I like the texture too. Next, Chen is going to show us some of the signature dishes, all covered with the bright red fermented chili. Wow, everything is red here and it's all made with one special kind of chili. What's so special about it? Wow, thank you. It actually inadvertently brings out a lot of the flavour of the fish and the ocean-ness. Chili actually plays like a background character, more of a set before the fish. It's really interesting. It looks bright red, but it's actually not that spicy at all. It's really good. This is just egg fried rice and the pickled chili, so I'm really looking forward to this one. The pickles just really whets your appetite. It's not unlike any other fried rice in the fact that it's got a lot of wok hay, it's very dry, but the pickles just really whets your appetite, just makes you want to eat more. Why do you think Guizhou loves the combination of sour and spicy? Drying, charring and fermenting are all different methods that generations of Guizhou people have employed to spice up their lives, despite the lack of material comfort. Today, you can easily pick up a jar of chili crisp on the other side of the world. But it all started here, where people persevered through hardship in this treacherous landscape. It's something the people of Guizhou take pride in.