Merkén Chile Blend, Herbs & Seasonings

Merkén (or merquén) is a flavorful, potent blend of aji cacho de cabra (also known as goat’s horn chile) salt, coriander and cumin seeds. Iconic in its native Chile, merkén originated with the cuisine of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche people. Once derided as a symbol of poverty, since the beginning of the 21st century merkén has experienced a resurgence in popularity with professional chefs in and outside of its native Chile....

All about Merkén Chile Blend, Spice

What it’s like, and how to make it

HeatMild

CuisineMexican & latin

Best forGrill bbq, roasting, finishing, quick weeknight, marinades rubs

Goes inGrills roasts, roasted vegetables, eggs breakfast

WithBeef, chicken, lamb, fish seafood, eggs

What’s in itaji cacho de cabra (goat's horn chile), salt, coriander, cumin seeds

How to use it

Chile's best-kept secret. Merkén is a Mapuche smoked chile blend — aji peppers smoked over native wood, then ground with coriander and cumin. Sprinkle on grilled meats, roasted vegetables, fried eggs, or avocado toast. Stir into olive oil for a finishing drizzle. One teaspoon transforms a piece of grilled salmon or a bowl of scrambled eggs. Mild heat with deep smoke and a citrusy, herbal warmth from the coriander.

Merkén Chile Blend spice, shown over a chalk-and-watercolour illustration

Illustration: Merkén Chile Blend with a Mapuche family farm in La Araucanía, southern Chile, in February

What’s in it

Every herb in the blend, and where to read about it on its own.

Salt · Caffeine-free

Sea Salt
Sodium chloride
Seawater, evaporated. It is in twenty-five products here, which understates it — salt is the ingredient that makes every other ingredient taste like itself. Fine sea salt dissolves on contact and is the everyday cooking salt: a teaspoon in a soup pot, half a teaspoon...
Clean salinity with nothing else in the way
Learn more Sold on its own
Spice · Caffeine-free

Coriander
Coriandrum sativum
The round, ridged seed of the same plant whose leaf is cilantro — and it tastes nothing like it. Where the leaf is green and divisive, the seed is warm, citrusy and floral, closer to orange peel than to anything herbal. That is why plenty...
Warm, citrusy and floral, a little sweet — orange peel and pepper together
Learn more Sold on its own
Spice · Caffeine-free

Cumin
Cuminum cyminum
A small ridged seed with a deep, earthy, faintly smoky smell — cuminaldehyde is the compound doing most of it. Cumin is one of the oldest travelling spices there is, and in this catalogue it is one of the busiest: twenty-three products carry it, which...
Deep, earthy, warm, a little smoky and bitter, with a musky edge
Learn more Sold on its own
Spice · Caffeine-free

Merkén Chile
Capsicum annuum var. longum
The ají cacho de cabra — goat's horn chile — smoked, and the backbone of merkén, a Mapuche condiment from southern Chile. Deep wood smoke over a mild-to-medium heat. The pods are picked in February when they turn from green to red, dried in the...
Deep wood smoke, mild-to-medium heat, a citrusy herbal warmth from coriander and an earthy cumin base
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Every ingredient in the shop →

What it goes with

Merkén's smoke comes from canelo wood, which produces the same guaiacol compounds as our Lapsang Souchong's pine smoke — structurally the closest match of any smoked spice. Plus the coriander is loaded with linalool, Lapsang's other key aroma compound. A dual bridge. Brew a cup alongside merkén-rubbed salmon.

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