Steenbergs Organic Chilli Flakes

Steenbergs Organic Chilli Flakes come from organic dried chillis that have been crushed. They have a decent heat without being mind-blowing and are 40,000 – 50,000 SHUs. Add Chilli Flakes to curries, chiles or to spice up a pasta sauce.

Steenbergs sources great Organic Chilli Flakes, which we carefully pack down for you in small batches to optimise their potency. They are orangey red and have seeds – but not too many – and are fragrant, warming, spicy with a medium heat.

Use organic chilli flakes in Indian cooking, sprinkled over omelette or pizzas or onto pasta. We like to have it on our table at home so everyone can add as much or as little chilli heat as they want, so much better than using a sauce. Try them in a Buddha Bowl or Pasta Alla Norma.

Axel’s Tasting Notes: Chilli Flakes are a fragrant and warming spice with a medium heat.

More About Chilli Flakes

Chilli Flakes come from Capsicum annuum, a small shrub. It has oval leaves and firm woody stems that grows to 1 metre high.

They are usually grown as annuals as the yield of chilli fruits diminishes after the first year. The chilli pod is a many seeded red fruit with a shiny skin and comes in a wide variety of shapes, colours, thickness and spicy heat.

Their pungent bite comes from the levels of capsaicin present in the fruit; capsaicin causes the brain to release endorphins and so feelings of wellbeing.

To make dry chillis, the fresh chillies are dried indoors at 20 – 25C to allow them to fully ripen. Then, they are dried outside on concrete floors, roofs of buildings or woven mats. At night, they are heaped into piles and covered with tarpaulins to protect them, before being spread out again during the day.

It takes three days for the moisture content to be brought down to 10% from 80% when fresh. 100kg of fresh chillies yields approximately 25-35kg of dried chilli spice.