Buying chilli powder in Spain

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Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

Buying chilli powder in Spain

Some time ago I sent friends in Córdoba some chilli powder from California, along with a recipe for chilli, which they like.

Now they need to buy some more powder, and apparently it's a problem in Spain: the one product amazon.es has looks like crap, and amazon.co.uk won't ship out of the country. I found an online Mexican food shop in Madrid, but they don't appear to stock it, and an e-mail got no response.

So I'm wondering if anyone might possibly know of anywhere, in Córdoba or online, to try?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2015 18:32:32

Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

These guys do some great Mexican chiles and will ship to Spain.

http://www.coolchile.co.uk/categories/view/chillies

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2015 18:39:14

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Escribano)

Many thanks. Looks like good-quality products, too, just what I wanted.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2015 19:20:55

Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

I can recommend them, though I would not suggest powder, but a mix of crushed, dried chiles to the recipe.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2015 20:03:46

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Escribano)

I’m currently working my way through a bunch of chilli recipe books I got out of the library. An interesting one was the recipe that included 1½ cups of tequila; but so far I haven’t found one to beat our default recipe, which is in The Spicy Food Lover’s Bible (Cincinnati Chile, minus the specified carbs, i.e. beans and spaghetti (!)).

We realise of course that using chilli powder is a compromise; but at least we try to get quality powder

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 13 2015 21:04:59

tijeretamiel

Posts: 441
Joined: Jan. 6 2012

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

I could get some chili powder for you if you like and send it to Spain for the price I pay and for actual postage?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 10:58:24

Morante

Posts: 2180
Joined: Nov. 21 2010

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

Pimenton dulce, pimenton de la Vera and pimenton picante are readily found in Spain and of very high quality and cheap too!.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 14:18:55

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to tijeretamiel)

quote:

I could get some chili powder for you if you like and send it to Spain for the price I pay and for actual postage?

Thanks, but I think we’re now OK: my friends have ordered a large-ish can of chile ancho powder from CoolChile

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 15:09:29

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Morante)

We’ve been struggling more than somewhat with the names of ingredients in (national) Spanish. Dictionaries tend to somewhat vague and contradictory.

My friends have some bottles with bilingual labels, and these say:

Pimentón dulce/Paprika powder
Cayena molida/Cayenne pepper

Chilli powder appears to be chile en polvo, but a Spanish friend tells me it is pimentón picante. However, my (Cassell’s) dictionary tells me the latter means cayenne pepper…

Allspice appears to be pimienta dioica.

All very confusing.

P.S. What is pimentón de la Vera? Paprika again?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 15:23:06

Johnc

Posts: 114
Joined: Apr. 16 2011
From: UK

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

quote:

P.S. What is pimentón de la Vera? Paprika again?

pimentón de la Vera is smoked paprika from La Vera, and its simply wonderful. all other smoked paprika, in comparison, is just red powder
its usually available in 3 varieties
sweet, hot and bittersweet (although I cant find bittersweet in the uk)

john

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 15:46:42

Morante

Posts: 2180
Joined: Nov. 21 2010

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

La Vera is a comarca de Extremadura, in la Valle de Jerte, famous for the best cherries in Spain.

Pimenton is ahumado and really excellent: I use all three at 2 euros a packet.

Morante

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 16:07:52

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Johnc)

Thanks, I’ve passed that on to my friends. I wonder if you can get it here in California? I’ll have to look.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 16:08:29

Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

I've gotten it from a little Spanish import shop in LA. There's gotta be I'm import shop in the Bay Area that carries it.....one would think.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 17:18:33

hhmusic

Posts: 164
Joined: May 13 2006

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

sounds like your friends have it sorted, but the grocery store in the basement of the corte ingles has a small mexican section, with some of the larger american tex-mex brands; i haven't checked it for chili powder, but i bet it's there.

you may already know this, but ... chili powder is not paprika or cayenne, but is most commonly made (in prepackaged chili powder) from dried new mexican red chiles, or secondly ancho chiles, with some other spices like cumin and garlic.

both chiles are more like paprika in that they have very little heat, so you can use a whole lot of them in making chili. if you made a chili powder with that same amount of cayenne it would blow your roof off!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 20 2015 22:03:37

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to hhmusic)

quote:

if you made a chili powder with that same amount of cayenne it would blow your roof off!

I was just thinking that: I’ve been reading a recipe book that says ¼ cup of chilli powder or cayenne, and I thought, You’ve got to be joking: there has to be a translation problem somewhere.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 21 2015 6:14:45

milanlondons

Posts: 34
Joined: Jan. 9 2015

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

Hi, La Chinata is a Spanish smoked chili powder. The company is family run and this chili powder is absolutely fabulous. It comes in a red tin box.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 25 2015 8:11:45

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to milanlondons)

Thanks. Where can you get it? And exactly what’s it called in Spanish?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 25 2015 17:17:08

Pimientito

Posts: 2481
Joined: Jul. 30 2007
From: Marbella

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

The problem that the Spanish dont generally eat spicey food and what they call here "picante" is to my taste very mild. They consider peppercorns and mustard picante. The Pimenton picante is a mild chili by most standards. To make any flavour you have to add a lot of powder.

If you live near the costa del sol or near Benidorm it is easy to find Hot chili powder or even fresh chili from the English/asian supermarkets.
In Malaga I found that you could buy pretty decent Chili powder from the municipal market where you could buy every dried herb and spice you could think of. Even there, the hottest chili powder was only just hot enough for my taste. Its not something widely available and in the interior of Spain you will find it only in the provincial cities.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 27 2015 7:31:26

tijeretamiel

Posts: 441
Joined: Jan. 6 2012

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Pimientito)

As an alternative, I'd recommend keeping a chilli plant on your windowsill in Spain. I've had in the UK for a while and it gives out of a fair number of chillis.

My favourite Chilli powder is the Kashmiri variety, not the hottest but it has a great flavour.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 27 2015 11:00:51

Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

Having lived in Spain and England and spent some time in Mexico, the best chiles are from Mexico and England (believe it or not). Spanish generally hate curries and chili.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 27 2015 18:14:23

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Buying chilli powder in Spain (in reply to Escribano)

quote:

The problem that the Spanish dont generally eat spicey food and what they call here "picante" is to my taste very mild.

quote:

Spanish generally hate curries and chili.

Indeed: my friends in Córdoba must be freaks.

But spicy food is also, to a certain extent, an acquired taste. I got into it at university, where the man who could order and finish the hottest curry was the best man (childish, I know, but what are your university years for, after all?)

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 28 2015 17:00:50