Chile Mojo

I often ask myself: How does a shop that specialises in chilli/​chile/​chilli products survive in the suburbs of Adelaide? Well, it’s simple. Awesome products, decent prices, and great service.
I’ve been here a few times and every time I intend to pick up one chili sauce, but end up with a box or bag of hot and spicy goodness.
The first thing that I love about this place is the floor to ceiling wall of hot sauces with names like «satan’s rage», «ass reaper» and «brand new asshole». Chili fiend culture is hilarious, while also being quite exciting and sometimes scary (my mouth waters when I even look at a really really hot sauce).
All of the hot sauces are rated out of 10 with most being in the 5 – 10 range, but something you’ll notice is that there are ¹¹⁄₁₀ sauces, ¹⁰⁰⁄₁₀ and I think ¹⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₀. What!?! Who the hell buys these insane sauces? Satan himself, for something to wash his face with?!? Even a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ will blow my head off and I love chili.
The owner Joel (who could easily be a character in a Coen Brothers movie) explains that these sauces are for huge batches of «chilli» I guess he means con-​carne or something. I swear, Joel must be the biggest chili fiend, because none of it seems to faze him and he seems like he would eat a few scorpion chilli’s on his cheerio’s in the morning.
Chile Mojo also sell chili merch, chili plants, fertiliser and seeds; Mexican ingredients for your next taco night; American soft drinks and more. Check them out or even order online. Just be careful what you buy, and ask Joel for his recommendation. He might even test your chili tolerance to see what you can handle.
Also, get his buffalo wing recipe and Frank’s sauce. You will not be disappointed… unless you don’t like chili, in which case you should start on a ³⁄₁₀ sauce and work up your tolerance, you wuss! Haha.

So, I am not one of those typical macho chilli fiends that are out there. You know the ones. Doesn’t everyone have one friend who thinks they can out chilli everyone? They eat a super hot bum burning chilli sauce on everything, sweat it out and skull a glass of milk afterwards. No sir, not for me.
However, I do love chilli. I love enough chilli to still enjoy flavour. My partner is a chilli fiend and demands access to a good selection of sauces at home. I also am going through a buffalo wings stage; This brings me to Chile Mojo.
Chilli fiends are like a moth to a flame for this store. It is truly amazing. I have never seen such an awesome selection of sauces, spices, jams, salsas, chilli merch, etc, etc. The best part about this store is the amazing storeowner. He is so passionate about his store and spreading the chilli love.
Last time I went into this store I was looking for a authentic buffalo wing chilli sauce. I got into an in-​depth conversation with the storeowner about the best sauce to choose and how to cook the best wings. Then he said, «in fact, I have an amazing authentic southern buffalo wing recipe I can share with you». What? Giving your recipe secrets away? No, he doesn’t mind. He just loves his customers that much! He pointed me to Franks Hot Sauce, printed out the recipe and told me to enjoy. And boy did I ever! This buffalo wings recipe kicks butt!
This store is such a gem, and I love to support stores like this that care so much about what they are sharing with the community. So next time you are thinking about buying anything to do with chilli, Mexican or spices; skip to supermarket and go to Chile Mojo!

As a fellow American and lover of authentic Mexican food — coming to Chile Mojo is a must when you desire making Mexican food at home.

The amazing and downright impressive customer service that I received on my (thus far) one and only visit to Chile Mojo is more than enough to warrant a five star rating!
It was actually some time ago that I was driving past and had some time to kill, so I stopped on by just to have a look. I saw a cute little sugar skull ring that caught my fancy (I also saw plenty of other things but was feeling incredibly broke at the time) so I marched up to the counter to purchase it straight away! The amazing lady working at the counter chatted away and offered me some free tofu as it wouldn’t be any good to use the next day. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take the tofu (mega sad face) as I wasn’t heading straight home, and like I said before, broke so I didn’t have a fridge in my car or anything fancy like that! But alas, she would not let me leave (in a nice way) without taking something for free — so she gave me a packet of chips — a smokey bbq or similar as I recall… what even?! People don’t have to be that nice, I was already buying something but she STILL gave me free food (maybe I looked hungry? This was in my student days…) either way — kick ass service in every sense of the word.
Others have also mentioned the crazy range of chili sauces on offer and although I didn’t buy any that day, my mum has purchased a few from here over the years — all of them awesome in their own unique way — each leaving a mark (on the inside of my mouth) that I’ll never forget…

Bought a rainbow chilli plant from here — it is the best — most don’t last long but this one is still going.

This place is great for lovers of hot sauce and all things Mexican flavoured. The owner is a guy from Denver via Seattle named Joel. He’s super helpful and gave me a lesson in hot sauce while I was there.
I was pretty cautious with my first hot sauce purchase but I reckon I’ll turn it up a notch on the next visit.
They sell materials to make tortillas with, such as a cast iron pan and press. Mexican themed recipe books. Random dresses and shirts. They also have a small fridge with «American soda» in it. We always get the organic blue sky stuff they have, it’s nice.
He claims to have the biggest hot sauce collection in Australia and possibly the southern hemisphere, but I have a feeling he may be wrong on that. Either way… a great collection of hot sauces.
This place is a must for those who like a bit of spice or even just the Mexican culture. A funky little shop.

Could you not give it a 5 star review? There is nothing else like it in Adelaide. I came here one day when I needed some dried chipotle chillies to make myself a sauce. It was recommended to me by a friend and it is one of the few places where you can find your chilli requirements. I was in luck, for anything I needed to get my taste buds fired up.
The proprietor immediately inquires what you need and then tells you about his love for chillies. He doesn’t need to because his enthusiasm and chilli covered shirt tells you enough about his love for all things spicy.

Yup. There’s chilli sauce. And lots of it.
I’m not really keen on super spicy things, but my best friends husbands cant get enough heat (he seriously goes through a bottle of nando’s extra extra hot a day), so I stopped in here to find him the perfect birthday present.
Chilli Sauce.
I ended up going with the hottest they had.
He loved it. But said it could have done with a little more spice. Weirdo.

Wow, I was amazed at the range of chili sauce available at Chile Mojo. It is almost a bit overwhelming and makes it a bit difficult to decide. There are themed novelty chili sauces, ranging from the sexually explicit to the ultra kitch (Elvis hot sauce). Sauces categorised on the basis of the colour of the chili and the nature of the heat, Australian made chilis and even chili by the gallon.
There is fortunately a heat level index ranging from 1 to 40 with 1 Million Scoville Pepper Extract, a product laden with warnings, the hottest at 40. Most other sauces range between 3 and 8, so I’m presuming that stuffs pretty hot.
In the end I went with a Mexican classic, the Cholula Chipotle at a modest heat level of 6, that is hot enough for me.

I’m sort of tired of all the craaaaap Mexican restaurants in Adelaide. I mean sure, you can get a decent burrito, but there is a whole lot more to Mexican than that. Well, Chile Mojo isn’t a restaurant but it is the best source of Mexican cooking ingredients in Adelaide. And the good news is a Mexican restaurant is being opened (not by the same people.) just next door!
Chile Mojo stocks all those novelty kinda chilli sauces — ‘Bum Blasters’ and blah blah blah. In fact they boast ‘the largest hot sauce collection in Australia. Cool, there isn’t anything wrong with that, but it’s not what makes Chile Moji so impressive. For me it’s all about the range of more authentic Mexican products — the spices, seeds and seedlings for growing your own chilli varieties, wholemeal tortilla, Guarana drink, achiote paste, guava paste, tins of black beans, cactus leaves, chipotle peppers, cochinita pork, corn truffles, AND tortilla presses! That last one really excites me.
The store is run by two chilli enthusiasts — Joel and Morgen. I’ve always found them really willing to help with questions about products or growing your own chillies. Chilli Mojo is great to stock up on authentic Mexican stuff, and I’m looking forward to being able to get a bite next door too.

Chile Mojo is the answer for those who pray to a spicier god. The variety of sauces, spices, traditional Mexican drinks and décor creates a unique space in Adelaide. Yes, the sauces can be pricey but they are so damn good. This is one of the few places in the city that you can get canned black beans, corn tortillas and the chipotle version of tabasco sauce. Worth checking out if you are craving some authentic hot sauce, BBQ sauce or Mexican spices.