About Edible Ornamentals

The 'pick your own' chilli tunnel at Edible Ornamentals, Cherwood Nursery in Chawston, Befordshire.

Edible Ornamentals is owned and operated by Joanna and Shawn Plumb. We specialize in growing and selling a large selection of chilli pepper varieties. We also produce and sell a number of chilli pepper-related products. These include our own a range of gourmet sauces, fresh, dried and pickled chillies, chilli ristra’s’ (strings of chillies), chilli & vegetable plants, and other spicy creations.

Edible Ornamentals is based at Cherwood Nursery in the village of Chawston in Bedfordshire. Here at our three-acre site we grow more than 40 different varieties of chillies and a selection of fresh vegetables. Our nursery and farm shop are open to the public and, depending on the season, you can even pick your own chillies or vegetables. We also sell our products at farmers markets, garden shows, and food and wine shows. Find a full list on Our Schedule page.

Alternatively, you can purchase a selection of our products right here on our website and we’ll ship them to you. You can pay securely and with confidence using “PayPal”.

Our First Chillies…

Pickled Fresno chillies from one of the really early batches made in 2005.

We grew our first chilli peppers while living in South Texas in the USA in 1994 and we brought our passion for the capsicum with us when we returned to England two years later. Joanna’s family have been commercial growers here in Bedfordshire for 35 years; however, Edible Ornamentals was born in the summer of 2001 on the back of a cancelled order for ornamental chilli plants. 3000 plants were being grown for a DIY store. When the order was cancelled instead of composting them we decided to try and get whatever we could for them. Initially we charged £1 each at some local car boot sales. The excitement from the British public was obvious and that first season we sold every plant. For the next three years we just grew and sold chilli plants and some fresh vegetables during the summer. In 2004 we started pickling Jalapeno and Fresno chillies in jars and selling them alongside the plants. These, and later a traditional red salsa recipe (Salsamania), made with locally produced chillies and vegetables, proved a big hit. We quickly outgrew our small home kitchen and in 2005 moved cooking operations to a rented industrial unit in a small village a couple of miles away where we created a purpose-built production kitchen. Our product line expanded and our new range of gourmet sauces was born.

Cherwood Nursery

In 2007 we purchased Cherwood Nursery, a deralict flower nursery in the village of Chawston. The greenhouses had not been used for years and we set about to clean up the site and turn it into a place where people can come and learn about the exciting world of chilli peppers, fresh vegetables and terrific food. We erected five new polytunnels, built a log cabin for our farm shop, a new commercial kitchen, staff facilities, and storage on the site. Today, all cooking and growing activities have now been consolidated here at Cherwood and to top it off, we are open to the public who can come and pick their own fresh vegetables and nearly 50 varieties of chillies.

Our craft and gourmet products are produced by us and we use as many of our own ingredients as possible. Our craft items are created using traditional methods and our gourmet items are produced using safe and approved recipe’s. Our kitchen is registered with the Bedfordshire County Council Environmental Health and we maintain Basic and Advanced Food Hygiene certifications. We have also recently been awarded SALSA (Safe And Local Supplier Approval) which is a Food Standard Agency and DEFRA supported audit that helps local and regional food and drink producers supply their products to national and regional buyers.

As part of the Slow Food movement, Joanna has visited local schools speaking to young children about where our fruit and vegetables come from and the importance of seasonality. We frequently entertain groups such as the Womens Institute, Rotary and other civic associations with talks, tours and delicious food! We support Hidden Britain and we are proud to be Charter Members of Tastes of Bedfordshire.

We’re passionate about chilli peppers, gardening, and great food and we enjoy hearing your gardening and cooking ideas and experiences. Please feel free to drop us a note with any questions or comments. We’d love to hear from you.

Edible Ornamentals is a trading name of Cherwood Enterprises Limited

Registered office is

Cherwood House

Blue Bells

Chawston, Bedfordshire

MK44 3BL