Purchasing Exotic Chile Powders Online

[Perilagu Khan]

I'm a chilihead and enjoy experimenting with chili recipes. One of the most interesting ways to experiment with chili, IMO, is to use different blends of powdered chile. But in contrast to the sheer multitude of different chile peppers on the planet, the variety of powdered chile available for purchase seems fairly restricted. I can get my hands on powdered New Mexico chile, cayenne, habanero, chipotle, jalapeno, ancho, guajillo, pasilla, bhut jalokia and chile de arbol with relative ease. But other more obscure powdered chile is hard to find.

Any of you Hounds know of a purveyor who specializes in obscure and exotic powdered chile?

[chefathome]

I can relate. I have a difficult time finding exotic chile powders as well. Chilly's Chile has some really neat sauces and such - even some you must sign waivers for as they are so hot. It is Canadian and I do not recall whether they ship internationally. They offer many dried chile varieties but not powder. I order the dried chiles and create my own blends, toasting them with dry heat then grinding in my spice grinder. Still may be worth a quick look for you. http://www.chillychiles.com/catalogue...

[paulj]

We are frequently warned that ground spices don't have the same shelf life as whole ones. I haven't seen such a warning regarding chile powders. Still I would expect a chile aficionado to have a stash of whole dried chiles, more so than lots of preground ones. Starting from whole ones, you can grind them, or toast, hydrate and puree, or even use them whole in dish.

[pikawicca]

Kalustyan's

[mcf]

Have you considered buying whole, dried ones and making your own powder(s) as needed?
A cheap metal bladed coffee grinder is great for this. I've been doing that recently; it's easy and the results taste wonderful.

[MGZ]

I agree with the others - buy dried chiles and grind them yourself. Our local Mexican Tienda has a dozen or more dried pods available and websites like Penzey's and Spices, etc. offer a few. Besides, with dried whole chiles you can also experiment with adding the whole dried peppers to your chili in addition to, or in place of, the powders. I do love our buddy, Capt. Saicin!

[OnkleWillie]

Pendery's in Ft Worth, TX has a whole room of chili powders.

http://www.penderys.com/ground-chile....

[paulj]

To a degree their ground and whole selections are complementary. The whole ones include more Mexican varieties, including the small ones. The ground section has more New Mexico and California varieties (judging by the names in some cases).

[Perilagu Khan]

From my experience powdered chile maintains its flavor and heat quite well as long as it's well sealed and stored properly. Of course, if you don't have an excellent product to begin with you're out of luck. That said, it's pretty apparent that certain exotic peppers are available only in whole form. In that case I'm perfectly willing to buy them whole and grind myself.

Incidentally, I've bought lots of chile from these guys and they are a first-class outfit with a great product:

http://www.chimayotogo.com/pc-31-7-dr...