A FINE line in fiery food, for those who like it hot, is being produced in a quiet corner of North Yorkshire.

Foodies seeking a gourmet thrill may have already stumbled on the wares of the One Stop Hot Shop.

Spicy stuff from chilli chocolate to chilli chutney is made by hand, in a kitchen near Northallerton, and sold by a select group of local retailers.

A wide range of products are on offer - including staples such as chilli sauce and chilli relish, to the more unusual chilli toffee and chilli jam.

There is even a chilli tea, for those who like their cuppa with a kick.

Set up by 18 months ago, the business is a labour of love for chilli queen Andrea Wood - a woman who knows her nagas from her Scotch bonnets.

"I love what I do and I enjoy seeing people enjoy my products," said Andrea, who debuted at the Dales Festival of Food and Drink last year and is going back for seconds next month.

"Everything is on a small scale, I am keen to preserve the hand-made aspect of the business, rather than farming it out," she said.

Quality, rather than quantity, seems to be Andrea’s prime concern.

Andrea has set out her stall at food shows around the North, and had orders for her delicious chilli chocolate - which comes in milk, dark and white varieties - from as far afield as Canada Stockists include Lewis and Cooper, in Northallerton, and The Fat Sheep, in Reeth.

When the D&S Times visited Andrea at her home, in South Otterington, she had prepared a selection of her products for us to try, which gave the old taste-buds a real workout.

It started with her throat-warming chilli toffee and tasty, mild chilli jelly - "good for glazing over salmon", said our host - and built up to Andrea’s hottest offering.

Dubbed "Smart Arse Sauce", perhaps for obvious reasons, it comes with a health warning on it.

Andrea tells a cautionary tale of one customer at a food fair at Lightwater Valley, near Ripon, who thought he could take on the sauce and win.

"He had far too much and started sweating profusely," she said. "I don’t think he was very well at all afterwards.

"I did warn him."

In the interests of being thorough, we tasted the merest drop - and needed the lion’s share of a pot of yoghurt to get back to normal afterwards. Extreme caution is advised.

Andrea, who reckons no chilli is too hot for her, advises dairy products, rather than water, for cooling down a savage chilli hit.

"Water blocks your pores and seals that heat in," she explained.

Andrea, who works full time with the youth offending team in Darlington, sees the business as a sideline, and says she is happy for it to remain as such for the time being.

She certainly knows the science behind her art, explaining that the heat of chillies is measured in Scoville units, which is the number of times a chilli extract must be diluted in water for it to lose heat.

She also extols the virtues of chillies as an alternative remedy for colds and flu, as well as improving circulation.

Andrea’s website - theonestophotshop.co.uk - is part of the Ring of Fire, a online community of chilli-lovers.