Ingredient: Chili powder

Chili powder is a blend of powdered chili peppers (red chili peppers and/or heat-packed cayenne peppers) often mixed with a variety of powdered spices like oregano, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, salt, as well as onion. The red-colored spice blend is generally made with one part cayenne pepper to seven parts of the other spices. So, depending on how much cayenne pepper is included in the mixture, the chili powder taste can range from mild to somewhat spicy. Thanks to its varied mixing, chili powder is far less hot than the pure ground chili pepper powder, while the latter is 8 times hotter and also lacking in flavor. Indeed, the savory aromatic spices blended in chili powder result in a unique flavor known as ‘Tex-Mex’ (American Tex-Mex-style). Chili powder has a wide variety of culinary uses. It is mainly used to spice up and to give a pungent touch to countless dishes. For instance, chili powder is used frequently in preparing chili recipes and adding flavor to meats (often used as a rub before slapping steaks on the grill), casseroles, and beans. Although store-bought chili powder can do the trick, the spice can be easily made at home. For this, you would typically need 2 parts of garlic powder, 2 to 3 parts of ground cumin, 1 part of paprika, 1 part of cayenne pepper, and 1 part of ground oregano. The next step is to mix the ingredients all together in a bowl then blend. Finally, make sure to store the chili pepper store in an airtight container soon after you finish blending.