Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes come to the table with a clean, biting heat and a touch—just a touch—of fruity, peppery flavor. They are used primarily to deliver spicy heat, which varies depending on the production and availability. Our Crushed Red Pepper Flakes are a composed of one or more varieties of hot pepper, often including but not limited to a combination of cayenne, tien tsin, chiltepin, or fresno peppers. All anatomical components of the peppers are ground, including heat-centric veins and seeds. Our Crushed Red Pepper Flakes are hot, averaging 30,000-35,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes are almost synonymous with Italian food in general, and pizza in particular, though this seems to be a nod to the first Italians to emigrate en masse to America. They were largely from the Calabria region in Italy’s southern end, and preferred their food a little spicy, adding pepperoncini to their food. The first immigrants would have opened the first restaurants and so, a legendary Italian food combination was born. Lombardi's Pizza in New York is one of America’s first pizzerias, opened in 1905. The current owner of Lombardi’s, John Brescio, has never questioned the pepper flakes, front-and-center on the table. "We've always used them,” he says. “In the beginning they were crumbled in a stainless steel bowl. And then there was a changeover in the 1950s to pepper flakes in the shakers.”

Tips From Our Kitchen

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes are for more than just pizza. While just about every pasta will benefit from a pinch (or two) of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, they can be used elsewhere. Use as part of a spice rub. Try making some spicy pickles. Shake some into your next tofu stir-fry. Brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, and kale roast beautifully when tossed with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes. When cooking with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, add them at the beginning of the cooking time if you want a mellower heat that will permeate the entire dish. Add them at the end if you want the heat of the peppers to come in sharper bites.

½ teaspoon of cayenne powder roughly equals ¾ teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes.

This product is certified kosher.

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