This is the chili the whole country runs on, and almost nobody outside Argentina has tried it. It comes from the dry northwest — Catamarca, Salta, La Rioja — where the peppers are split, laid on the ground, and left to the sun for weeks instead of being force-dried in ovens. Slow drying is why it tastes fruity and faintly sweet where standard crushed red pepper just tastes like heat. It is the backbone of chimichurri and it deserves to be sold on its own.
Everywhere crushed red pepper goes, with better results: chimichurri, pizza, pasta with oil and garlic, roasted vegetables, eggs, beans, soups. A teaspoon in a pot of lentils. Bloom it in warm oil for thirty seconds to open it up.
Sun-dried crushed red chili (ají molido). Origin: northwest Argentina.
