Matt Bray 
The lovely cascabel pepper offers a lot more than just good looks. Its earthy flavors – smoky and nutty – make for one flavorful sauce, especially for tortilla-based Mexican cuisines like enchiladas, quesadillas, and burritos. Try this cascabel sauce, too, with grilled chicken and beef. We like it without the cilantro to retain the full nuttiness, but some prefer the hint of freshness the cilantro brings to balance some of the earthiness.
As far as chili-based sauces go, few are as brightly beautiful as aji amarillo sauce. It looks like captured sunshine, and its tropical flavor and medium-high heat tastes terrific on everything from chicken to french fries. Aji amarillo is a staple of Peruvian cooking, so this sauce works very well with South American cuisine and other Peruvian recipes. If you happen to have fresh aji amarillo available, use it instead of the paste.
The world of paprika is surprisingly complex… You have sweet and you have hot. You have generic, Spanish (three types), and Hungarian (eight types). And then you have smoked too. Where does smoked paprika fit in? How does it typically differ from other forms of …
Guajillo peppers are well-loved for their smokiness and tea-like sweetness, and it’s these two flavors that make it such an excellent salsa pepper. Here mixed with tomatillo, this guajillo salsa has a sweet tang with a trailing smoke. It’s excellent finely blended and served with …
Have an excess of fresh hot peppers sitting in your kitchen? Canning them is a terrific way to extend their lifecycle so that you can enjoy the heat year-round. Canned hot peppers have the same chili heat burst with a terrific tangy pickle taste which makes …
They may look as different as two chilies can get, but are they really that different in the kitchen? Can you easily substitute a poblano for an Anaheim pepper and vice versa, or are they better left to their own devices? And what about heat? Sure, they’re both mild, but there’s mild and then there’s MILD. These questions and more are about to be tackled in the next PepperScale Showdown!
Popular powders meet off! Both paprika and chili powder are spice rack staples. You’d be hard pressed to find a well-stocked kitchen that doesn’t include these two powders. But how are they similar and how are they different? Can you substitute one for another in a pinch? Does …
Bring on the guacamole extreme! So you want to experience new heights of heat in your homemade guacamole? Â Get ready for this. Habanero guacamole may look like your normal appetizer dip or Mexican side, but underneath all that smooth green is an explosion just waiting …
With the rise in the rates of diabetes and other health issues caused or affected by our diets, people are choosing to make and eat healthier snacks. Rather than reaching for the chips and dip, they’re reaching for chips and salsa. But is salsa good for you? Well – chip choice aside – it turns out that salsa might be better for you than you ever imagined.
You’re growing jalapeños, seeing the fruits age, and likely salivating like Pavlov’s dog to get them from plant to plate. But when’s the right time? What should you look for that’ll signify when to pick jalapeños for the absolute best flavor? Well, that depends on whether you want them for fresh use or for drying. Let’s review both so that you’ll have the best flavor possible.