Pepper Paste
Pepper paste is a concentrated paste made from ripe red capsicum fruit, produced by cooking down the pulp until most of the water has been driven off. It is traded in both a sweet form built on mild paprika type peppers and a hot form in which pungent chilli varieties are used, and it functions as a colour, a savoury base and a heat source at the same time.
The colour comes from carotenoid pigments, principally capsanthin and capsorubin, which are fat soluble and intensify as the pulp concentrates. Sweetness and body come from the natural sugars and pectin of the fruit, and in the hot form the pungency comes from capsaicinoids concentrated in the same proportion as the solids. Because the pigments are oxidisable and light sensitive, colour loss is the property that most often limits shelf life.
The product is a dense, smooth to slightly fibrous paste, bright to dark red, that disperses in water and in oil rather than dissolving. Salt is normally added to help preserve it, and commercial pastes are either hot filled and pasteurised or aseptically packed. Water activity remains high enough that an opened container needs refrigeration, and surface mould is the usual spoilage route.
We source bulk Pepper Paste from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shandong. 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.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Smooth to slightly fibrous paste, free from foreign matter |
| Colour | Bright red to dark red |
| Odour and flavour | Characteristic cooked red pepper, free from scorched notes |
| Total soluble solids | 22 to 36 degrees Brix, declared per grade |
| Extractable colour | 80 ASTA units minimum |
| Pungency, hot grade | Declared per grade in Scoville heat units |
| Sodium chloride | 0 to 15.0 percent, declared per grade |
| pH | 4.2 to 5.0 |
| Water activity | 0.95 maximum |
| Howard mould count | 40 percent positive fields maximum |
| Lead | 0.1 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 1,000 cfu/g maximum |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g maximum |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are defined by solids content, colour, heat and cut. Solids are stated as degrees Brix or as total soluble solids, typically running from around 22 to 36 percent for industrial paste, with the higher figures used where a manufacturer wants to add less water later. Colour is declared as an ASTA value or against a visual standard, and heat, where present, is declared in Scoville heat units.
The other divisions are practical. Sweet pepper paste and hot pepper paste are separate products rather than variants of one. Salted paste, at levels around 8 to 15 percent salt, is the traditional preserved form, while salt free aseptic paste is sold to manufacturers who set their own salt level. Texture grades run from a fine sieved paste with the skin and seeds removed to a coarse paste that keeps some fibre. Organic lines and lines free from added preservative are run separately, and drum, pail, aseptic bag in box and retail jar formats each carry their own specification.
Applications
- Sauce and condiment manufacture, as the colour and body base of chilli and pepper sauces
- Soups, stews and ready meals, contributing colour and a cooked vegetable savoury note
- Meat products including sausage and marinated items, where it colours as well as flavours
- Marinades and rubs in wet form for poultry and grilled meat
- Snack seasoning bases, where the paste is dried or plated before blending
- Pizza, pasta and prepared sauces as a supplement to tomato
- Hot pot and noodle bases in the spicy varieties
- Retail table condiment sold in jars and tubes
- Foodservice bulk ingredient for restaurant kitchens
Brands Using Pepper Paste
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Pepper Paste on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Pepper Paste
Top Pepper Paste manufacturers in China.
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
In the United States pepper paste is a food made from vegetables rather than a regulated additive. Manufacture falls under the general food safety preventive controls, and for a shelf stable acidified or low acid canned product the acidified foods or thermally processed low acid foods regulations apply, including process filing and the use of a scheduled thermal process. Any preservative, acidulant or added colour is a food additive declared on the ingredient list, and capsicum and paprika extractives used as colour are colour additives exempt from certification.
In the European Union the paste is an ordinary food under general food law and the hygiene framework, so the fruit itself carries no E number, while preservatives such as sorbates and benzoates, acidity regulators and any added colour are authorised additives with their own E numbers and conditions of use in the relevant food category. Pesticide maximum residue levels for peppers, mycotoxin limits where dried chilli is used as a raw material, and the controls on unauthorised dyes in chilli products are the main compliance points, and the controls on dyes are a recurring basis for border rejection. Codex has standards covering processed chilli and capsicum products that most export specifications follow.
Manufacturing Process
Ripe red peppers are received, washed and inspected, then destemmed and, for fine grades, deseeded. The fruit is crushed and given a heat break, either a hot break at around 90 degrees Celsius, which inactivates pectolytic enzymes quickly and preserves viscosity, or a cold break at a lower temperature, which gives a thinner paste with a fresher flavour. The broken pulp is passed through a pulper and finisher fitted with progressively finer screens, which separates skin, seed and coarse fibre from the pulp.
The strained pulp is concentrated in a multiple effect or forced circulation vacuum evaporator, where water is removed at low temperature so that colour and flavour are protected, and the concentration is monitored to a target soluble solids figure. Salt is dosed where the formula includes it. The concentrate is then heated to the pasteurisation temperature, held for the required time, and either hot filled into containers that are inverted and cooled, or cooled aseptically and filled into sterile bags inside drums. Filled packs are cooled rapidly, since holding hot paste darkens the colour and degrades the carotenoids the product is bought for.
