Steenbergs Organic Chilli Powder

Steenbergs Organic Chilli Powder is a medium heat chilli. It is ground from dried whole chillis and has a biting, slightly bitter warmth. Use chilli to add heat to any savoury dish, especially curries and Mexican chile, or chocolate or chocolate puddings.

Steenbergs sources the highest quality organic Chilli Powder we can find, packing in small quantities to keep it fresh and pungent.

Organic Chilli Powder is a medium heat, orange red powder. It has a decent warmth without being too overpoweringly hot. Use sparingly because not everyone has the same heat tolerance. Use in any cuisine that needs some heat, from Indian curries through to Mexican chiles or a spicy rub for a Portuguese peri peri chicken.

Axel’s Tasting Notes: Hot, with a medium heat. It has a slightly sweet caramelised taste. Heat is about 40,000 Scoville units.

Food Pairing: Anywhere you want heat. Curries, chillis or chiles, fajita, with tofu, pulses, vegetables, eggs, chicken, lamb, beef, chocolate.

More about Chilli

Capsicum annuum is an annual herb. It has oval leaves and firm woody stems, growing to about 1 metre high. The chilli pod is a many seeded, red berry with a shiny skin that comes in a wide variety of shapes, colours, thickness and heat levels.

The aroma and flavour of fresh chillis is capsicum-like, with a hint of sweetness. Their heat comes from capsaicin, which causes the brain to release endorphins.

When ripe, fresh chillies are dried outside. It takes three days for the moisture to be brought down to 10% from 70 – 80% in the fresh chilli. 100 kg of fresh pods yields about 25 – 35kg of dried chilli.

Dried chillis are more interesting in flavour than fresh. This is because the drying caramelizes the sugars as well as driving other chemical changes that add depth.