Kashmiri Chilli

Deep red, barely hot — ASTA 60–80 at 1,500–2,000 SHU

Kashmiri chilli is the mildest of the commercially traded Indian chillies and among the reddest, running ASTA extractable colour of 60–80 against pungency of just 1,500–2,000 SHU — low enough that a dish can be built on it for colour alone without meaningful heat. The pods are broad, deep red and lightly wrinkled, moisture runs ≤ 10%, with aflatoxin to the EU limits and damaged and broken pods at ≤ 3%. It is the chilli behind the colour of rogan josh, tandoori marinades and much of North Indian restaurant cooking, and its reputation is why it carries a substantial premium over every other variety on this list.

The thing a buyer most needs to understand about this product is supply. Genuine Kashmiri acreage is small, the crop is limited, and demand far exceeds it — with the entirely predictable result that a large share of chilli sold as "Kashmiri" in retail and wholesale is Byadgi from Karnataka, which looks similar and costs considerably less. We will not present Byadgi as Kashmiri, and if a quote you are holding from elsewhere looks close to Byadgi pricing, that is what it is. Buy genuine Kashmiri where the name is on the pack, where a restaurant or retail brand is making a provenance claim, or where an unusually low-heat, high-colour profile is functionally required. For volume colour work at sensible cost, Byadgi is the honest answer and we will quote it as Byadgi. CBIL supplies against SGS or Intertek certification of ASTA colour, SHU, moisture, aflatoxin, residues and foreign matter, with origin declaration, in 25 kg bags, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.