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Chilli Pequin from Mexico 50g (Chilli Piquin)

Description Price Quantity
Chilli Pequin Standard Jar 50g £3.75
Chilli Pequin from Mexico 50g (Chilli Piquin)

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Steenbergs' Pequin Chillies come from Mexico.  Other common names for Pequin Chillies are chile petin, chile piquin, chile del monte and chile mosquito.  Pequin Chilis are small, red and fiery hot chillis very similar to Birds Eye Chilli, but we retail ours as a fiery hot ground chili powder.  Chilli pequin should be used with caution, packing a punch at around 50,000 Scoville Heat Units (but can get up to 100,000 SHUs) or 8/10 on a more generic scale.  Chili pequin is citrussy and nutty in flavour behind its strong direct heat and some say it has a smoky taste, but this depends quite a lot on the drying process.


Chilli plants vary considerably in size, appearance and heat. Capsicum frutescens is a short lived perennial shrub that lasts for 2-3 years.  Pequin plants of Capsicum frutescens have pointed oval leaves that are tear shaped, growing to rarely more than 1 metre high (3ft).  The chilli pod is a small, 2cm long red fruit, packed full of seeds (perhaps 10 seeds) with a shiny skin.


The aroma and flavour of fresh chillis is distinctly capsicum-like, with a hint of sweetness. Their pungent bite comes from the levels of capsaicin present in the fruit; capsaicin causes the brain to release endorphins and so feelings of wellbeing. To make dry chillis, the fresh chillies are dried indoors at 20-25C (68-77F) to allow them to fully ripen, then they are dried outside on concrete floors, roofs of buildings or woven mats. At night they are heaped into piles and covered with tarpaulins to protect them, before being spread out again during the day. It takes roughly three days for the moisture content to be brought down to 10% from 70-80% when fresh; as an approximation, 100kg of fresh chillies yields 25-35kg of dried chilli spice.   These dried pequin chillies are then ground down to a fine orange-red powder that includes the seeds and veins to ensure maximum levels of potent heat.  For more information on chile pequin, visit Wikipedia.


With the popularity of Mexican cooking in the UK, chili pequin is a great adjunct to your repertoire, so use these to hotten up a Tex-Mex style chilli, or make a hot pequin sauce - cook for 1 hour: 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, ½ onion chopped and 1 garlic clove chopped, plus 1tbsp ground chilli and 1tsp oregano, then mush up in a food processor, or this Chilli Piquin Salsa.  Other recipe ideas: chilli piquin vegetarian tortilla soup, salsa de piquin or chile piquin and savory beans.


Steenbergs Ground Pequin Chilli Pepper is a part of Steenbergs range of specialist spice ingredients, and is available through this website, Amazon, or you can ring Steenbergs on 01765 640 088 or email us at enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.  It is not made available to Steenbergs retail customers and is exclusive to mail order and web customers.

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