Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
As a spicy-foods obsessive, I’ve added dozens of local hot sauces to my cabinet o’ fire in the last few years, joining go-to spices and sauces from my favorite Asian and Mexican cuisines.
But while the rise of hot sauces is a pandemic trend that continues to burn bright — with local purveyors such as Merfs and Sauce Leopard grabbing national attention — I find myself veering toward something drier and, arguably, more versatile the last few months.
A new guard of chile pepper-flake blends have become a welcome fixture at my table. They may lack the same pop-culture spark that extreme hot sauces do from the “Hot Ones” competition show and, for some, spice blends begin and end with barbecues and holiday meals, as brands such as Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, Tony Chachere’s and Tajín Clásico spring to mind.
That’s fine, because chile pepper flakes don’t need a viral moment. Dried and crushed chile powder and whole chiles are vital to traditional Southwestern cooking, even if dried pepper flakes are more of an ingredient than a condiment (except perhaps on pizza). So what could possibly be new?
Plenty, as it turns out. I recommend trying the creatively blended varieties from Flatiron Pepper Co., a Denver-founded outfit that takes pepper-flake recipes far beyond what I’m used to. Their Four Pepper blend, which incorporates árbol, ghost, habanero and jalapeño peppers, called to me at the supermarket with the promise of straight chile-pepper flavor to accompany the heat. It’s since adorned my table during nearly every eggy breakfast, pasta night and family movie night pizza party.
Four Pepper is one of more than a dozen varieties that Flatiron offers, including smoky and mild blends, the earthy Hatch Valley Green (Hatch Big Jim, Hatch Sandia, jalapeño and habanero), and the predictably scorching I Can’t Feel My Face (reaper, moruga scorpion, ghost and habanero peppers). In between are Sweet Heat, Asian Reds and other worth-trying varieties. (Note: Samples were provided for this article.)
Recently. Flatiron introduced its Kimsa Q’Uni, a blend of three South American chile peppers — charapita, rocoto and wiri wiri — that sit high atop the Scoville scale.
It’s not a zero sum game, as I welcome all spicy players. If I’m feeling particularly masochistic and experimental, I might even add some of these dry flake-blends to my favorite hot sauces. That’s more useful for when slow-cooker season sets in, but it’s also worthwhile when I’m not feeling the vinegar-forward flavors of most hot sauces.
Notably, Flatiron’s products are not chili-crunch oil, which is more of a condiment with its multiple ingredients and overall savory profile. It’s rightly lauded and delicious, but chile pepper flakes deserve their own craft-recipe line, and I’m delighted to have discovered it.
Also check out: Pueblo Seed & Food Co.’s spice tins, including punchy red-chile and garlic blends (farmdirectseed.com/collections/artisan-foods); the bracingly fresh and varied jars from The Chile Guys at Lulu’s Farm (lulusfarmstore.com/collections/powders); and the powder-and-pepper offerings from Grand Junction’s Zesty Moose (thezestymoose.com).
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