McCormick crushed Red Pepper Flakes

[LuckyLuke]

Surely you can find Merkén / Merquén, as far as I understand it's a Mapuche thing, the closer you get to Chile the more available it is.

Fascinating...I'll try to find it here. Plenty of Mapuche presence around Neuquen but I'm not very familiar with it's culinary influence.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Surely you can find Merkén / Merquén, as far as I understand it's a Mapuche thing, the closer you get to Chile the more available it is.

Went to Chile last week and finally tried some Merken, very pleasant flavor with a hint of spicy. Sadly the mix I bought in Argentina was a lot more bland. Supposedly each side uses different peppers. Wish Argies weren't such softies with spices.

 

[FrankPintor]

Went to Chile last week and finally tried some Merken, very pleasant flavor with a hint of spicy. Sadly the mix I bought in Argentina was a lot more bland. Supposedly each side uses different peppers. Wish Argies weren't such softies with spices.

I've had good luck with merken in Bariloche, but I guess it's going to be hit-or-miss. I do need to get some again.

At the farmers' markets in provincial Chile you can find stalls with only red and green chiles, and any self-respecting customer will take one and bite into it to confirm it has a kick. I don't know the exact type of chile, over there they just called it "aji chileno", but if memory serves (doubtful, it's been a while) it might be "cacho de cabra". If I understand correctly, the red chiles are smoked and ground up to make merken.

Pebre is very big in Chile, with chopped and crushed raw chiles and other veggies (onion, garlic, tomato, etc) and appears with almost every meal. They go through a lot of chile. And yes, the flavours are bolder, not just spicier and hotter, cumin is a favourite spice, but also lots and lots of cilantro, which isn't too easy to get here, we need to find the veggie shops with Bolivian or Peruvian owners who might have a bunch or two at the back of their fridge.