Colour & shine
The first thing a buyer looks at. A deep, even red with a live shine means the fruit ripened on the plant and was dried without rain. Dull, brownish or patchy lots lose value immediately, whatever else is right about them.
Quality Guide
How a red chilli lot is judged in Kunri
Understanding what decides a chilli rate — colour, moisture, stalk, breakage, heat and cleanliness — so growers and buyers price the same lot the same way.
Quality Parameters
What we look at, and why it moves the rate
Nothing here is a laboratory ideal. These are the checks that decide whether a lot sells as export-grade whole chilli or goes to a grinding unit.
Physical parameters
Moisture
Chilli is safe to bag and store between about 10% and 12%. Above that it sweats, loses colour and goes mouldy in the stack; too dry and pods shatter into powder during handling and weight is lost.
Pod length & uniformity
Long-variety pods and Dandicut pods are judged separately. Within a lot, buyers pay for uniform sizing — mixed lengths and shapes force a grinding-grade price even when colour is good.
Stalk content
Stem left on the pod adds dead weight and drops the recovery rate for grinders. Hand-clipped or well-winnowed lots with low stalk always clear faster in the mandi.
Breakage & broken tips
Over-dried or roughly handled lots arrive with cracked pods and loose tips. High breakage pushes a lot towards powder and industrial demand instead of whole-chilli retail or export.
Foreign matter
Dust, soil, leaf, string and stones from the drying floor. Winnowing and screening before bagging is the cheapest quality gain a grower can make.
Chemical & safety parameters
Pungency (heat)
Measured in Scoville or as capsaicin content. Dandicut lots from our belt run hot and are bought for heat; long-variety lots are milder and bought mainly for colour and appearance.
Colour value (ASTA)
Export and processing buyers ask for extractable colour, reported as ASTA units. Sun-drying without rain interruption and prompt bagging are what protect this figure.
Aflatoxin & mould
Wet drying floors and damp stacking create mould, and mould creates aflatoxin. Import markets test for it and reject on it, so lots that got rained on are kept separate rather than blended.
Pesticide residue
Buyers in the Gulf and Europe work to residue limits. Growers who follow spray intervals and stop well before picking give us lots we can offer to those desks with confidence.
Ash & insoluble ash
For ground chilli and powder, ash tells a buyer how much soil and grit came along with the fruit. Clean winnowing at the source keeps it inside specification.
Insect & live infestation
Stored chilli attracts beetles and mites. Ventilated, raised stacking with regular checks keeps a lot saleable through the whole off-season.
Grade Standards
Working specifications by product
Indicative working ranges we grade against at the shop. Buyer-specific specifications can be agreed lot by lot before dispatch.
Whole dry red chilli — Grade A
Export and premium retail lots.
- Colour
- Deep uniform red
- Moisture
- 10–12%
- Broken pods
- ≤ 3%
- Stalk content
- ≤ 2%
- Foreign matter
- ≤ 0.5%
Whole dry red chilli — Grade B
Grinding units and domestic wholesale.
- Colour
- Good, mixed tone
- Moisture
- 10–12%
- Broken pods
- ≤ 8%
- Stalk content
- ≤ 4%
- Foreign matter
- ≤ 1%
Whole dry red chilli — Grade C
Bulk powder and industrial demand.
- Colour
- Variable
- Moisture
- 10–12%
- Broken pods
- ≤ 15%
- Stalk content
- ≤ 6%
- Foreign matter
- ≤ 2%
Dandicut (hot, short pod)
Bought for pungency more than looks.
- Pod type
- Short, thick-walled
- Heat
- High
- Moisture
- 10–12%
- Stalk content
- ≤ 3%
- Foreign matter
- ≤ 1%
Chilli powder & crushed flakes
Ground under our own label.
- Base material
- Clean, sound pods only
- Moisture
- ≤ 10%
- Added colour
- None
- Foreign matter
- Nil visible
- Packing
- Sealed pouches / bulk
Chilli seed
Sold separately after grinding and cleaning.
- Purity
- Cleaned, screened
- Moisture
- ≤ 9%
- Pod residue
- Minimal
- Foreign matter
- ≤ 1%
- Packing
- PP bags, buyer weights
Grade Calculator
Check your lot before you bring it in
Enter what you see in a sample — moisture, foreign matter, breakage, stalk, sizing and colour — and the calculator returns the grade that lot would most likely fetch, with the reason for each deduction.
11%
Safe bagging band is 10–12%.
0.4%
Dust, soil, leaf, string and stones from the drying floor.
3%
Cracked pods and loose tips in the sample.
2%
Stem left on the pod — dead weight for grinders.
Pod size uniformity
Colour
Indicative grade
Grade AExport and premium retail — whole chilli buyers, Gulf and Sri Lanka desks.
Why this grade
- Every parameter sits inside the Grade A working range for whole dry red chilli.
Indicative only. Final grade and rate are set on the mandi floor with the lot open in front of the grower.
How we grade, step by step
- 1The lot is opened in front of the grower — nothing is graded behind a closed door.
- 2Colour and shine are judged in daylight against lots already on the floor that day.
- 3Moisture is checked by feel and meter before any weight is agreed.
- 4A sample is spread to count broken pods, loose tips, stalk and foreign matter.
- 5Pod length and uniformity decide whether the lot goes to whole-chilli or grinding buyers.
- 6The grade, weight and rate are recorded and shown to the grower before payment.
Six things that move a grower up a grade
- Pick fully red, ripe pods; part-red fruit never recovers its colour on the drying floor.
- Dry on a clean, raised surface — soil contact is the main source of ash and foreign matter.
- Watch the forecast and cover lots before evening humidity or rain, not after.
- Keep rain-affected chilli in a separate lot; blending it drags down the whole consignment.
- Clip or winnow out stalk before bagging — it costs little and pays back on rate.
- Bag at 10–12% moisture and stack on ventilated dunnage, away from walls.
Specification Sheet
Need this written against your own specification?
Tell us the grade, quantity and destination and we will send a written specification and rate for the lots we currently hold — no generic download, an actual answer for your order.
Request a specification sheet
Select the commodity and reason, then start a pre-filled WhatsApp chat with our team.
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Exporting? Send a full RFQ with port and Incoterms, or contact the shop.