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Hi Dave:
Our grocery supermarket has extra hot chili powder in bulk and just plain chili powder in 1 kg. packages. But they don’t have any cayenne. Is chili powder the same as cayenne? If it isn’t the same, how do you tell the difference? Thanks.
–Fred Green
Hello Fred:
Ain’t marketing wonderful? It could be U.S.-grown cayenne, or it could be any hot red Mexican or African chile. Even when a powder is labeled "cayenne," that doesn’t make it so. The produce and spice industries are notoriously lax about chile nomenclature. Just like the California produce industry can call poblanos "pasillas," the spice industry can call generic red pepper "cayenne." Caveat emptor, as they said in ancient Rome–"Let the buyer beware." And often "chili powder" has additional spices, like cumin, for use in making chili con carne.
–Dave
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