Ciba Chili
Ciba chili is a coarse chili paste made by softening dried red chilies in hot water and then pounding or milling them, traditionally with garlic and ginger, into a sticky mass whose texture gives it its name. It is a cooking base rather than a table condiment, and in Guizhou and Sichuan practice it is the material fried in oil at the start of a hot pot base, a braise or a dry pot dish.
Unlike a finished chili sauce it carries little or no vinegar and only modest salt, and it is not intended to be shelf stable on its own. The defining characteristics are the moisture the peppers take up during soaking, which lets the paste release colour and aroma into hot oil without scorching, and a deliberately coarse grind that leaves visible flakes of skin and seed. Pungency and colour are set by the pepper blend, which usually mixes a mild, deeply coloured long variety with a smaller quantity of a hot variety.
Commercial material ships chilled, frozen or in oil packed and pasteurised form, in pails, drums or vacuum bags, and is used within a short window once opened.
We source bulk Ciba Chili from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturers are in Sichuan and Xinjiang. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Coarse red chili paste with visible flake structure |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic soaked dried chili, no musty or scorched note |
| Moisture | 60.0 to 72.0% |
| Particle Size | Coarse grind, 2 to 5 mm flake, by grade |
| Sodium Chloride | Not more than 5.0% |
| Capsaicin Content | By grade, 0.02 to 0.15% |
| pH | 4.6 to 5.6 |
| Sudan Dyes I to IV | Not detected |
| Lead | Not more than 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.5 mg/kg |
| Aflatoxin B1 | Not more than 5 ug/kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 100 cfu/g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are described by the pepper blend and by the grind. The blend is quoted as a variety mix and a pungency figure, ranging from colour led pastes built mainly on mild long peppers to hot grades carrying a significant share of small hot varieties. The grind is quoted as coarse, medium or fine, with coarse grades holding recognisable flake structure for dishes where the paste stays visible and finer grades used where the paste is fried out and strained.
The second axis is composition and preservation. Plain grades contain only chili and water, with garlic and ginger versions traded separately because the alliums shorten shelf life and change the fried aroma. Preservation grade covers chilled, frozen, oil packed or pasteurised material, and seedless grades are produced where seed fragments would be visible in the finished dish or where a lower pungency is wanted at the same colour.
Applications
- Hot pot base manufacture, fried in beef tallow or vegetable oil as the first step in building the soup base
- Dry pot and stir fried dishes, where the paste is bloomed in oil to set colour and aroma before other ingredients go in
- Guizhou style sour soup and braising liquors, contributing heat with a soft, non acidic pepper character
- Chili oil production, as the solid phase from which colour and pungency are extracted into hot oil
- Barbecue and grill seasoning pastes, brushed onto skewers during cooking
- Prepared meal kits and central kitchen recipes that need the fried chili step standardised across sites
- Compound sauce blending, as the pepper base of dipping sauces and noodle sauces
- Marinades for poultry and offal, where the coarse texture clings to the surface of the meat
- Frozen convenience products such as sauce pucks and seasoning cubes for retail hot pot kits
China Manufacturers of Ciba Chili
Top Ciba Chili manufacturers in China.
Sichuan Litong Food Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory- Xinjiang Pujiwo Garden Food Technology Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Ciba chili is a processed vegetable preparation rather than a food additive, so it carries no E number and is regulated as a food. In the European Union the relevant controls are the pesticide residue limits for peppers, the mycotoxin limits that apply to dried chilies and products made from them, and the import checks maintained on chili preparations for illegal Sudan dyes. Any preservative or antioxidant used in an oil packed grade is a permitted additive that must be declared.
In the United States the paste is an imported processed food subject to preventive controls, with the mycotoxin and pesticide questions handled in the same way. An oil packed and pasteurised grade that is sold shelf stable falls under acidified or low acid canned food controls depending on its pH, and a chilled or frozen grade avoids that route by relying on the cold chain. Codex covers chili preparations under its general standard for pickled and processed vegetable products and sets the mycotoxin limits that apply to dried chili.
Manufacturing Process
Dried red chilies are cleaned, de-stemmed and sorted, with damaged and mouldy fruit removed, then blended to the specified variety ratio. The blend is soaked or briefly boiled in hot water until the flesh is fully rehydrated and pliable, a step that takes anything from twenty minutes to a couple of hours depending on the thickness of the pepper wall. The softened chilies are drained thoroughly, since carried over water thins the paste and causes spitting when it later meets hot oil.
Grinding follows, traditionally in a stone mortar and industrially in a stone mill or a coarse setting colloid mill, with garlic and ginger fed in alongside the chili where the recipe calls for them. The temperature of the mill is controlled, because heat generated in grinding degrades colour. The paste is then either packed cold and chilled or frozen, or blended with vegetable oil and salt, heated to pasteurisation temperature under agitation, hot filled and cooled. Metal detection and weight checks complete the line.
