ottawa foodies

With the closure of Chili Chili's I am now at a loss as to where I can procure dried chilies.

I want to make Alton Brown’s Chili Powder and I need:

Ancho chilies
Cascabel chilies,
Dried arbol chilies

Does anyone have a source? Too late to start growing my own…

I would also accept suggestions as to an alternative high quality chili powder.

Thanks in advance.

Ian You could try Grace in the Kitchen & Serious Cheese. I haven't been to their shop since they moved to Hazeldean but when they were located in Old Ottawa South they used to carry quite a few dried chiles. You could also try Grace Ottawa . They have a large selection of dried herbs and spices - they might even have the chillies you are looking for. And last but not least you could try La Tiendita or Mercado Latino.

Mountain Path carries dried Ancho and smoked Ancho and several others. Email them for a catalog

Ian you might also try Little Latin America on Somerset; they have a selection of dried chilies - see Little Latin America

Mountain Path Anchos

FNB 00246 K
Chili Peppers Whole Ancho 2,000 Hu
$18.14 per lb

No Cascabel

No arbol

Just checked the catalog

They currently do not list the smoked anchos (crap!)

I will try little latin america, report back.

How many dried Cascabels were you looking for? I still have some I can part with but not a huge amount.

zymurgist, do you know if they carry *smoked* dried anchos? My stash is getting low!

quick edit: you already answered that further up the thread so nevermind :-D

I am not sure they ever had dried anchos, actually. Mountain Path has always carried whole Chipotle, though. :)

FNB 00331 K Chili Peppers Whole Chipotle 75,000 Hu 454 g $17.84 $39.29 kg
(Piments chipotle entiers (jalapeños fumés) 75,000 H)

As I mentioned above, they do not currently stock smoked Anchos

refashionista - dried whole Anchos are in the catalog as I posted above.

I said "dried" but I meant "smoked" -- my bad. The only smoked chilis they've ever carried are the ones I listed. ;)

OK, that means I've got my chilies mixed up :-)

I went to Little Latin america and they had all the chilis i needed. I made some fantastic Chili Powder.

Peter thanks for the offer but i was already in the store when you posted.

Follow up question though, did you grow yours? I have so many seeds left over i would grow my own now. If it is possible in Ottawa.

I did not grow my cascabels, I loaded up on lots of different dried chillies before Chili Chilis closed shop.

I do grow other kinds of chillies most summers (lots of habs this year), most chillies do really well in pots for those short on room or don't want to dig up a garden. I find they are a lot more tolerant if I neglect to water them for a couple days if I'm out of town, unlike tomatoes in containers which need daily watering.

Grace Ottawa (Downtown on Bank St) has most of what you're looking for.

Any suggestions for drying/smoking your own? I have a whole garden full of Jalapeno, Cayenne, and Habanero plants just about to bust at the seams with peppers, and I want to be prepared to get them ready for vacuum sealing... Any input would be much obliged...

-Nukem

I've never tried smoking my own. From what I've read, you really want to smoke them for a very long period of time. Some of the guides I read said 24 hours or more. I'd be interested to know if anyone has done this as well.

For simple drying, if you don't have a dehydrator, put them on a pan in the oven at lowest temp. Crack the door open now and then to let out any humidity if you have a lot in there. It should not take long this way, maybe a few hours. I've done it this way a few times with success, and used the peppers for the year until my next crop was ready.

24 hrs seems a bit excessive... i think i may try drying them a bit in the oven first, then smoke for a few hrs with hickory, and then finish drying in the oven... never realy thought of using the oven, i was going to use my crappy dehydrator... might make my sons fruit taste a little funny though....

Thx for the advice Peter!

Drying them is easy in a food dehydrator. Smoking too. I did some a few years ago and smoked them a few hours first and then dried them in the dehydrator. Worked really well. I thought I had a video on youtube for it but cannot find it right now - will look again later. Search this site too I may have posted it here.

I've smoked fresh peppers, 1 - 2 hours. This does not dry them however. Great for a fresh salsa.

ok, and what about modding the bradley with a fan to double it as a dehydrator after smoking for a couple hrs...? i was thinking sheet metal box with a fan from a stove fan....

You might try asking on the Bradley forums as well: forum.bradleysmoker.com/ - lots of very experienced people over there. Hook us up with a thread link if you do!

Just broke down and picked my first 5 Cayenne's... they look ready, although they are very green... I hung them in the front window to see if i can get them to ripen into a nice red... anyone had any success with this? Thx for the idea Peter, I do believe I shall bring it up on the bradley forum... I'll keep you posted

Why not let them ripen on the plant? I know it's a bit late for those 5 now, can't say I've tried to ripen after picking though. If you put them in a window they might start drying or rotting.