Do the French hate chilies ? Or do they never use them in their cooking ? I miss the finger chilies from Tesco/Sainsbury. They have the poudre but it is not strong enough and never ever stock them in my local SuperU or E.Leclerc. I have to get them in bulk whenever I go to Paris.
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My OH would agree with you, he thinks most chefs here are cautious with chillies.
Do you have a Grand Frais near you or maybe an Arab shop? Grand Frais normally have a choice of chillies.
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We stopped cooking normal strength food with heat for French france friends a long time ago. The commercially available curry power, like columbo, has pepper and mustard grains but nothing resembling a chilli. And piment dâespelette you could feed by the teaspoon to a baby.
Grand Frais, Arab/Moroccan markets or a nice holiday
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Where abouts are you? Here in 86/87 we have, Birds Eye and scotch bonnet/ habanero in Leclerc, although as already said, I generally try Grand Frais as theyâre not 40⏠per kilo or whatever ridiculous price Leclerc want. Grand Frais had some purple ones on Saturday which are very tasty, im going back tomorrow to try get some more!
Which GrandFrais was that, Kirstea, please? Limoges and Poitiers never seem to have any whenever I visit 
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Hmm they seem to at most supermarkets around jalapenos, habanores and Italian Hots. The farmerâs markets have them in season as well. This is in the Aveyron thou
I did make a sweet potatoe soup with a homemade hot chili oil for our village soup contest. All the younger people loved it but the older gens would not touch the oil
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Itâs possible to find habaneros or jalapenos, especially in stores frequented by North Africans. We seek them out to prepare Mexican food because for some reason they donât seem to thrive in French soil. Sad.
Saint BenoĂźt is where I get them! They generally always stock scotch bonnets and Birds Eyes, and then on and off will have different chillies which tend to be âwhen theyâre gone, theyâre goneâ. The big Leclerc usually has some too, but as I say, theyâre getting ridiculously expensive for both. I think Scotch Bonnets were 30⏠a kilo there as opposed to 9.90⏠at GF.
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Thanks! I hadnât found that branch - just the one in Chasseneuil. I was planning a trip to Poitiers on Friday so Iâll pay them a visit.
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Saw scotch bonnets in Figeacâs African shop last weekend, went in to get some very fresh okra/gumbo. Our Dutch friends (including Mira) bring stuff like chile crisp down for us and we bring stuff up from Spain for them.
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The relatives grow them and export around France to restaurants etc. They have moved recently to just north of Tours so not sure what they are growing.
Asian supermarkets will sell both fresh rawit and scotch bonnets, but as per @BruceWayne , when in Paris, head to Belleville and buy sack loads for a few euros and then freeze them 
here in rural 79 both SuperU and E.Leclerc have bogth green. red and specialist chillies quite frequently, I freeze them whole then defrost for 5 minutes in a cup of hot water from the tap
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Assuming you are somewhere warm, finger chillies are the easiest thing to grow in a pot!
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Iâm obviously cheating compared to most of you, but I buy chili powder âAlbert MĂ©nĂšsâ, from one of the supermarkets we visit.
For us it is just the right mixture: piment de cayenne, paprika, cumin, origan, clous de girofle.
Although we enjoy spicy food if it is on the menu, itâs not something we eat a lot of at home⊠so a small pot lasts quite a while.
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I grow my own. They are slow to germinate and need a bit of heat to get going but then they need little attention. A large crop gets me enough chilli jam to last a year or two.Superb stuff which goes with almost everything.
Whatâs your chilli jam recipe please? We used to make ours with medlars, but no longer have the tree.
Iâm currently in Sri Lanka for seven weeks holiday everything you eat is spicy and flavoured with chillies. My breakfast this morning was baked chilli eggs with pratha bread, followed by pineapple. Sri Lanka only make sweet and tropical fruit wine it goes well with spicy foods.
France make the best wine in the world it canât really take chilli and spicy flavours and culturally the wines were never made to be paired with such foodstuffs. I love spices but I love my Corton Charlemagne more. Turbot and beurre blanc for me please.
That sounds powerful. Why the gelatine, do you know?