Jalapeño chile powder is made from grinding whole jalapeños, both seeds and pod. Powdered Jalapeño chile is a tasty component in sauces, chili, salsa and adds a little zing when sprinkled over vegetables, chicken, chops, ribs, or eggs. It's also a great secret ingredient for chip dips and Bloody Marys.
The Jalapeño is one of the best known chile peppers and is most widely used chile pepper in the United States. It is a thick-fleshed pepper with a hot green vegetable flavor.
The Jalapeño Chile is named after the city of Xalapa [Jalapa] in the state of Veracruz in Mexico, and appears in all sorts of Latin cooking, because of its spicy-but-not-too-hot flavor. The use of the Jalapeño chile dates all the way back to the Aztecs.
On the mild end of the hot pepper spectrum, Jalapeño chiles have 2,500 - 8,000 Scoville heat units. [By point of comparison, Habanero Chiles, at the other end of the spectrum weigh in at a face-melting 100K - 300K Scoville units]. The Jalapeño chile's flavor is akin to a lightly hot bell pepper. The dried Jalapeño chile is a Chipotle Chile.
Use Jalapeño chile in eggs, salsa, cornbread and other corn dishes, and in jambalaya, soups and stews.
Little-known fact: In 1982, Jalapeño chiles were the first chiles to be taken into space.