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Chili and Paprika for Sauces Salsa and Condiments
Hot sauce, salsa, chili oil and table condiment producers need heat they can predict and a pod character they can recognise on the label.
What Goes Wrong in This Industry
The variety is part of the recipe
Guajillo, Chaotian, Puya and Yunnan cayenne each taste different. We sell them by name and by SHU band rather than as generic red chili.
Fruit character matters as much as heat
Guajillo chile is mild to moderately hot with a fruity taste, which is why it ends up in Mexican-style sauces rather than in a generic hot blend.
Batches must reproduce
Every product page publishes the ASTA band and the SHU band that lot is quoted against, so a recipe can be rebuilt from the specification.
Some products want flake, some want powder
Crushed chili at 40 to 60 mesh suits salsa; 40 to 120 mesh powder suits a smooth sauce that must not show particles.
Four Products That Fit This Application
From Enquiry to Repeat Order
Name the variety, or send the flavour you are chasing
Guajillo, Chaotian, Puya and Yunnan cayenne taste different. If you do not know which one your current sauce uses, the heat figure and the colour usually narrow it down.
Choose whole pod or ground
Cooking from whole pods keeps the flavour build in your own kettle. Buying ground removes a step but hands the mill decision to us.
Heat placed, flake size set
A point inside the quoted SHU band, and 40 to 60 mesh flake or 40 to 120 mesh powder depending on whether the chili should show in the jar.
Sample against the sauce, not against the spec sheet
For sauce work we would rather you cooked the sample than measured it.
What Sits Behind the Quotation
Guides Buyers in This Industry Use
Scoville Heat Units How to Read the SHU Range on a Chili Spec
Why a chili specification quotes a SHU band rather than a single figure, and how to choose the right point in the band for your product.
Read the guide →Chinese Chili Varieties for Export Puya Chaotian Cayenne and Jinta
Four varieties, four heat bands and four different uses. What each Chinese export chili is actually for.
Read the guide →Questions From Sauces Salsa and Condiments Buyers
Do you sell chili by variety or by heat?
Both, and the two are quoted separately. Guajillo, Chaotian, Puya and Yunnan cayenne are named varieties, each with its own SHU and ASTA band.
Which pod gives a fruity rather than a sharp heat?
Guajillo, grown here as Jinta chili. It is described on our specification as mild hot with a fruity taste, at 10,000 to 15,000 SHU.
Flake or powder for a salsa?
Flake at 40 to 60 mesh if the chili should be visible in the jar. Powder at 40 to 120 mesh if the sauce has to look smooth.
Can I buy pods and cook from them rather than buying ground chili?
Yes, and many sauce producers do. Whole pods let you build the flavour in your own kettle rather than accepting someone else’s mill.
How do I reproduce a sauce I currently buy from another supplier?
Send the certificate of analysis. Variety, ASTA, SHU, mesh and moisture are enough to rebuild most recipes from the ingredient side.
Talk to Us About Sauces Salsa and Condiments
Send the specification you are buying against and we will quote the grade that fits, not the grade we happen to have.