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A Savory Spice Shop Blog
Gather 'Round the Table
Celebrating spices & food that satisfies the soul

Three Colorado Companies = One Great New Spice

277

with Mike Johnston
Founder
August 31, 2017
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Tags: Chile Flakes MM Local Sriracha
Three Colorado Companies = One Great New Spice

When you headquarter your business in Colorado and when that business is spices, it’s not often you can source locally grown items. Not because we don’t want to but because spices predominantly grow in more tropical climates. Chile peppers, however, are one exception. So I was intrigued when my buddy Troy Cone, of Colorado’s MM Local Foods, contacted me about a locally grown, chile pepper byproduct of their Sriracha Sauce production.

Savory Spice Founder Mike Johnston

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When he brought me a sample, I knew the second it hit my tongue that we had to share this flavor with our Colorado customers.
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The process of making sriracha leaves these chiles with a fermented, umami-like flavor, balanced with infused salt that remains. It’s truly a unique and tantalizing flavor combination. The heat level is quite tolerable, similar to our Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, about a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10.  The huge bonus? These Portuguese chiles were grown at Full Circle Farms in Longmont!

We snagged up all the chile byproduct from this year’s MM Local Foods sriracha production, which ended up being a few hundred pounds. Then we ran them through our grinders and sieves to convert them into chile flakes and Portuguese Fermented Chile Flakes were born! They won’t be around long, so if you want try a new, unique chile flavor…you’d better hurry. When you enjoy these chiles, you’ll be supporting three Colorado companies. How’s that for reducing your carbon footprint?!

MM Local's plot of chile peppers at Full Circle Farms complete with a Rocky Mountain view!


What do they taste like?

The fermented flavor of these Portuguese Fermented Chile Flakes makes them a natural pairing for almost any Asian dish but they’re so much more than that.

Sprinkle on eggs, hummus, pizza, or stir-fries. Add spiciness to burgers, marinades, sauces, soups, and stews. The possibilities are endless! Use about ½ tsp to equal one small dried chile. The heat level is quite tolerable, similar to our Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, about a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10.

How can you get some?
Portuguese Fermented Chile Flakes are available online and at select locations while supplies last.

Locations carrying this product:

CALIFORNIA

  • Costa Mesa
  • Santa Rosa
  • Sonoma
  • Palm Desert

COLORADO

  • Aurora - Southlands
  • Boulder
  • Colorado Springs
  • Denver - Platte Street
  • Denver - Lowry Town Center
  • Fort Collins
  • Littleton

FLORIDA

  • St Petersburg

NEW MEXICO

  • Santa Fe

NEBRASKA

  • Omaha

NEW JERSEY

  • Westfield

NORTH CAROLINA

  • Charlotte
  • Greensboro

OKLAHOMA

  • Oklahoma City

OREGON

  • Portland
  • Bend

PENNSYLVANIA

  • Peddler's Village

TEXAS

  • Austin

WASHINGTON

  • Seattle - Alderwood Mall

 

                                  

Comments on this Article


(guest), on July 30, 2017

The byproduct of making Sriracha sauce is the skins and seeds of the chili. They are indigestible roughage and will have little flavor left after the sauce has been strained off the skins. Even though the sauce is fermented, the skins will NOT ferment as they are mostly cellulose. I make a lot of fresh red and green sauce and I always strain the skins out. They have no flavor and are not something one would add back to food. In general, chilis grown in dry northern climes (out West), say) have much thicker skins than when grown in moist tropical climes and those skins must be burned and rinsed off or strained away to make the sauce edible. There are lye chemical peels for large scale commercial packers but they have lousy texture compared to charred skins. Not sure why someone would grow Portuguese chili to make Sriracha sauce. They will be a large and very mild variety. The traditional choice is a small and very hot Thai or Vietnamese chili that is very piquant. The American Red Rooster brand uses ripe jalapeno peppers and it is quite mild by SE Asian standards. Also in US, the FDA requires the fermented sauce to be sterilized by heat and also addition of ah huge amount of chemical preservatives not found in the original overseas versions. For a very nice fire roasted, salted and seasoned chili flake, try sourcing the Urfa Biber pepper flake from Turkey or a so called Aleppo Pepper flake also from Turkey as the Syrian city isn't exporting much Ag produce these days.

(guest), on July 30, 2017

Thanks for the " heads up " regarding this new spice - I'm anxious to give it a try.

(guest), on July 30, 2017

Well I'm from Colorado and I live in Texas, where, unfortunately, I am unable to purchase. I will need to rely on my friends and family. I can't imagine this fine company producing and/or selling an inferior product. Maybe some of the terminology and process description was not quite right, but - I'm jealous that it's only in Colorado!!!

(guest), on August 04, 2017

Just bought 2 jars of the the Portuguese Fermented Chile Flakes yesterday. We tried it sprinkled over some roasted veggies we had last night, and then again this morning with some scrambled eggs. It is delicious. It tastes like a cross between regular chile flakes and Piment d' Espelette! I hope Savory Spice continues to produce these chili flakes every year. The "Guest" whose lengthy story of how flavorless these chile flakes are should try them before commenting.

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