Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Chili Powder" is a mix of herbs and spices ground and mixed together for your convenience, just like "Curry Powder" is a (somewhat different) mix of herbs and spices. I don't think most Hispanic (or Indian) cooks would use these mixes, preferring to create their own combination and probably grinding it themselves.
Different brands will have slightly different proportions of spices, too. Most labels list the ingredients in the order of amount used, so if it says "ground chilies, cumin, garlic", there is more chili and less garlic than cumin.
My understanding is "chili" can refer to a hot pepper, or the Mexican meat stew dish. “Chili powder" thus also has two meanings: the grounded form of the hot pepper, or a mixture of spices including the hot pepper, cumin, garlic powder, among other things, used in the stew.
So if a recipe calls for chili powder, what is it referring to?
I think it's a given that when a recipe calls for chili powder, by default it would be the mixture commonly known by that term.
Here in the desert southwest, chili powder is ground chili peppers. To avoid confusion, just look at the package or bottle and see what the ingredients are. When I cook with chili powder, I use the chili's I like. Sometimes I will use Hatch chili powder, or maybe ancho or guajillo powder. I just purchased a tub of Hatch red chili powder from Santa Cruz chili and spice company down here in Southern AZ. The tub reads "Pure Anaheim Chili Powder made with delicious Hatch chilies. No additional flavors or spices to compromise the pure chili flavor. Certified Gluten Free.
We discovered the perfect method of processing the red mature chili pepper into a rich chili powder."
Here in the desert southwest, chili powder is ground chili peppers. To avoid confusion, just look at the package or bottle and see what the ingredients are. When I cook with chili powder, I use the chili's I like. Sometimes I will use Hatch chili powder, or maybe ancho or guajillo powder. I just purchased a tub of Hatch red chili powder from Santa Cruz chili and spice company down here in Southern AZ. The tub reads "Pure Anaheim Chili Powder made with delicious Hatch chilies. No additional flavors or spices to compromise the pure chili flavor. Certified Gluten Free.
We discovered the perfect method of processing the red mature chili pepper into a rich chili powder."
You can buy bags of chili powder in the store, where they have all the ones in bags like a bag of bay leaves. Normally around $1. They are ususally not near the jars of herbs/spices
Where I live spices and herbs aren't sold in bags. They come in bottles or containers.
Usually if a recipe wants pure ground chilies, it will call for the type of chili pepper and then put "ground" after it. Like the recipe will call for dried pasilla pepper, ground. Or dried guajillo peppers, ground.
If the recipe calls for "chili powder" it means the spice blend that is mostly ground chilies and cumin.
I'm going to a add this: it is getting more and more difficult to find a good chili powder, so mostly I make my own blend. Brands I used to buy have gradually switched to cheaper peppers and then removed some peppers and replaced with salt, and the good flavor is no longer there.
Good chilies are expensive and getting harder to find and the spice companies don't want to pay for the high quality chilies to put into their blends.
My understanding is "chili" can refer to a hot pepper, or the Mexican meat stew dish. “Chili powder" thus also has two meanings: the grounded form of the hot pepper, or a mixture of spices including the hot pepper, cumin, garlic powder, among other things, used in the stew.
So if a recipe calls for chili powder, what is it referring to?
In my pantry I have 3 bottles of cayenne powder, and one bottle of paprika powder. I DON"T have "ground chile" nor "chili seasoning/powder".
I also have tons of cumin powder and garlic powder.
So, with what I have and don't have, can I still cook beef chili tonight? I heard cayenne is 8 times hotter than "ground chile"... our family is not into hot food.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
