Milk Street’s Sichuan Salt tingles the tongue with prickly Sichuan peppercorns rounded out with warm five-spice powder, musky white pepper and a touch of sugar. Well rounded, it's an all-purpose seasoning that we dust over roast chicken, seared steaks, vegetable stir fries, chewy fried noodles and snacks like popcorn. It blends well with sesame oil to drizzle over sautéed greens or roasted sweet potatoes. Or blend with a little cornstarch and use as a coating for sautéed cutlets or cubed tofu.

Mom's Mala is a vibrantly red and deeply fragrant Sichuan chili oil that is all about bringing out the aromatic side of chili, balancing mouth-tingling (ma) Sichuan peppercorns with spicy (la) chili peppers. This classic mouth-tingling sauce is a classic condiment much harder to find on supermarket shelves than other Asian hot sauces that feature peanut or garlic. Rounded out with a blend of star anise, cinnamon and cloves—the core spices of Chinese five-spice powder—and a touch of sugar and oil, this Sichuan chili oil has floral and lightly smoky notes and is available in both mild and spicy versions.

The mouth-tingling power of our Sichuan Peppercorns largely defines the cooking of the Sichuan region of China and shows up in Taiwanese cooking as well.

Villa Jerada’s Harissa No. 1 is our favorite version of this North African red pepper paste for its bright, complex flavor. While many store-bought varieties have a one-dimensional spicy flavor, this harissa layers acidity and fruitiness with preserved lemons, a touch of vinegar and tomato paste for a lively, tangy condiment. Villa Jerada uses just enough high-quality Moroccan olive oil to make the harissa spreadable and smooth without diluting its flavor, as opposed to conventional brands that contain a high proportion of water and vegetable oil.

Fragrant Sichuan chili oil is as common in Chinese restaurants as ketchup is in American diners. Blank Slate's Kitchen small-batch rendition pairs the heat of chili with zesty ginger and aromatic shallots and garlic for an especially bright flavor.

Made with dried rose petals, this aromatic harissa has an amazing depth of flavor, with an up-front warmth that builds gradually. The subtle rose flavor doesn't overpower but rather enhances the other ingredients, layering botanical notes with earthy spices and playing up the fruity and floral notes of the chili. Made with dried rose petals, this aromatic harissa has an amazing depth of flavor, with an up-front warmth that builds gradually. The subtle rose flavor doesn't overpower but rather enhances the other ingredients, layering botanical notes with earthy spices and playing up the fruity and floral notes of the chili.

Gochujang is a Korean hot pepper paste that has a savoriness similar to Japanese miso and is fermented with glutinous rice, which gives it a slightly sticky texture and subtle sweetness. It’s a real powerhouse ingredient that we’ve come to rely on and consider an essential element of the Milk Street pantry. Chung Jung One's version has an approachable, mild heat level for adding to everything from tofu stew to barbecue meats.

Even people who can't handle too much spice will love this Apricot Harissa, which has permeating sweetness and light dried-fruit quality, backed by warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin. Whereas most versions of the popular North African condiment are fairly spicy, Belazu's product tempers chili's heat so it's just a mild, pleasant tingle on the palate.

The black Kampot peppercorns, picked green and unripe then dried in the sun, are the most intense of the lot, packing a bright, fleeting heat and flavor notes of menthol and floral notes. It’s different than any other pepper we have tasted and an exciting new addition to the home pantry. We use them as our everyday peppercorns for bold flavor or highlight the flavor in Southeast Asian curries and even Italian classics, like cacio e pepe. The red Kampot peppercorns are left on the vine to fully ripen and possess a complex aroma and bright, fleeting heat level tempered by a sweet, almost fruity note. Use these as an everyday peppercorn, or blend with black peppercorns for complexity. We like them blended into southeast Asian curries or salad dressings, where the peppercorn’s sweetness can temper acidity. Fully ripened and peeled of their strong-tasting exterior layer, white peppercorns are the mildest of the bunch (though still pack a bright, fleeting heat) and ideal for milder dishes or light-colored dishes that would otherwise be marred by the fleck of peppercorns.

This small-batch chili paste from Auria's Malaysian Kitchen has a wonderful chili-forward flavor, with a balance between the brightness of fresh peppers and the earthiness of dried chilies that makes it adaptable to all manner of recipes. The spice is rounded out with pungent garlic and a touch of sugar and vinegar, and the producer also uses shrimp paste in its recipe, which contributes umami flavor without any fishiness. As an ingredient for cooking, you can get more mileage out of sambal than hot sauce thanks to its thicker consistency, while its complexity makes it a great powerhouse ingredient for weeknight stir-fries. Try substituting sambal for the red chili flakes in our Thai Stir-Fried Spinach.

Fruity, subtly cumin flavored and only moderately spicy, coarse-ground Aleppo pepper is used throughout Middle Eastern cooking. We use it frequently and consider it a valuable flavoring for all manner of dishes that benefit from a little spark of heat. Villa Jerada’s sourcing is impeccable as these flakes are particularly moist and richly flavored.

Just because your wasabi is aggressively spicy doesn't mean it's real; in fact, most of the wasabi in Western supermarkets is regular horseradish dyed green. Popular Japanese brand Kameya makes its product with true wasabi, or Japanese horseradish, which is incredibly rare because it only grows naturally along stream beds in Japan's mountainous regions. Beneath its sinus-clearing spice, wasabi has delicate earthy and vegetal notes that give the paste a refreshing, aromatic quality. Beyond sushi, add a dab to vinaigrettes or teriyaki glazes for fish, or try a small amount in your ham and brie sandwich or on your cheese platter—there's little its spicy herbal goodness can't improve!

Based on a family recipe, Lime Leaf Sambal by Auria's Malaysian Kitchen is a one-of-a-kind tangy and savory chili paste made with makrut lime leaves and lime juice. The clarifying aroma and complex floral notes of makrut lime complement the chili peppers' fresh, vibrant quality without making the hot sauce taste overwhelmingly citrusy. The sambal is rounded out with pungent garlic, cane sugar and kosher salt for a savory, balanced condiment that has both the brightness of fresh chilies and the depth of cooked chilies.

Even those averse to raw garlic will love Brooklyn Delhi's Roasted Garlic Achaar, which showcases the caramelized, mellow qualities of roasted garlic. This bold sauce has spicy-sweet notes up front, followed by an aromatic lemony tang and lingering mustard pungency; just a small amount will add depth and nuance to any meal.

Robust, savory-sweet Tomato Achaar features bright tomato fruit enhanced with tart tamarind, earthy garlic and nutty sesame oil, for a subtly spiced, well-rounded sauce with just the right amount of tang. The achaar's mild heat level and smooth consistency make it an easy, complexly flavored substitute for tomato paste in soups and sauces.

K-Mama is a rich, mildly spicy and savory-sweet sauce that will add instant Korean flavor to almost any dish. Featuring a base of the Korean red pepper paste gochujang, K-Mama's Original Sauce has a mild, lingering chili heat balanced by brown sugar, umami-rich soy sauce and the fermented soybean paste used to make gochujang. Aromatic sesame oil gives the sauce a silky richness. The company also makes a Gluten-Free Sauce that's slightly tangier, brighter and lighter-bodied, but with all of the same complexity.

Minnesota resident and Korean American K.C. Kye developed K-Mama Sauce out of nostalgia for his mother's homemade Korean cooking. The award-winning condiment is ideal for making bibimbap, a classic Korean rice dish, as well as marinating meat, drizzling over rice or noodle dishes or using as a flavor base for stir-fry.

Taste the one-of-a-kind flavor of New Mexico's world-famous chilies at any time of the year with this shelf-stable Hatch Green Chile Powder. Available in Hot or Mild versions, Desert Provisions' product has a wonderful grassy, vegetal flavor like a green jalapeño but is more savory and earthy; the chili peppers' grassy, herbaceous aromas adds to the complexity. The Hot powder has a bold medium-hot warmth, while the Mild is still spicy but not overwhelming. A vital ingredient in Southwestern cuisine, New Mexico chili peppers are so iconic that they're in fact trademarked: Only peppers grown in Hatch Valley, New Mexico, can bear the name “Hatch chili,” and thousands of chili-lovers worldwide flock to the area for the annual Hatch Chili Festival, which takes place around Labor Day weekend at the end of the chili harvest. Desert Provisions, a purveyor of Southwestern specialties, carefully sources its Hatch-certified peppers from a fourth-generation New Mexico farm.

• Net Weight: 2 ounces
• Ingredients: New Mexico green chile
• Place of Origin: New Mexico

Belazu uses its earthy Rose Harissa as the base for this bold and fiery chili paste, which has the perfect amount of smokiness from the addition of chipotle peppers. It's earthy but not overwhelmingly smoky, so you can still savor the fruity depth of the other chilies. The harissa's spiciness is complemented by rich balsamic vinegar of Modena and dark muscovado sugar, which bring out the natural sweetness of the chilies without overpowering the paste. Bright cinnamon rounds out the harissa, which we sometimes treat as a complexly spiced chipotle paste.