Gebhardt’s Chili Powder Co.
This week’s post is about a former San Antonio institution- Gebhardt’s Mexican Foods Company. In 1896, Willie Gebhardt established Gebhardt’s Eagle Brand Chili Powder Company. For nearly a century, the company produced chili powder, canned chili, canned tamales, and many other Tex-Mex food products in San Antonio – first as an independent company, and then as a subsidiary of the Beatrice Food Company. Gebhardt’s is now owned by ConAgra Foods, and though the San Antonio plant has closed, a few of the products developed there are still available in stores. You can check what products are available in your local stores on the Conagra Web site: https://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/index.jsp.
When Gebhardt first started selling chili powder, his market was limited by the fact that Americans outside Texas did not know how to cook with it. In 1908, the company published Mexican Cooking, one of the first Tex-Mex cookbooks. This cookbook introduced Americans to what would become one of the most popular cuisines in the country and promoted the use of Gebhardt’s chili powder above similar products. The book warns that “The success of Gebhardt’s Chili Powder has naturally brought forth a host of spurious chili powders or compounds of, which the public should be aware…” and goes on to say that Gebhardt’s is the only product that delivers “That Real Mexican Tang.”*
Gebhardt’s used this same technique to promote later products like canned chili, canned beans and deviled chili meat. While the booklets describe the recipes as “real” Mexican cooking, it’s not likely that Mexicans would recognize much of the contents. The recipes include “Piquant Deviled Eggs,” “Hominy and Chili Scramble,” and “Gebhardt’s Beans in Tomato Cups.”
UTSA Libraries Special Collections acquired the Gebhardt’s Mexican Foods Company’s records in 1989 and is in the process of digitizing the collection and making it available through our digital portal. Readers of Top Shelf, UTSA Libraries Special Collections blog, have already been introduced to the collection’s photographs. Now, images of over 100 labels from Gebhardt’s products are also available at digital.utsa.edu.
The chili barbeque sauce was the best taco sauce ever.
I have been using this for 34 years
Where can I find it in bulks
Or coupons for the chili powder
Dear Thelma,
I’m sorry to say that we do not have information on how to purchase Gebhardt’s Chili Powder in bulk, nor on where to find coupons. Gebhardt is now a brand under ConAgra Foods, so I would recommend contacting the company.
As a long-time aficionado of Gebhardt’s , you may enjoy the Libraries’ recent Virtual Exhibit on the company’s history.
My wife and I just three bottles from the local Pauls IGA in Nampa, Idaho
Mild Bill’s (mildbills.com) is an online retailer that sells Gebhardt’s Chili Powder for $4/3-ounce bottle.
It is now Mildbillsspices.com, and you can order it in bulk as well, if it’s in stock. I just ordered 5 lbs of it. (the more you order, the cheaper it is) Contact Kelly at kelly@mildbillsspices.com and let her know how much you’d like to order. She will get back with you on the price and shipping costs.
I would like to buy a bigger container of chili powder, is there any such thing anymore? Used to get 6 cans or a 5 lb plastic jug. Do you make either of those sizes anymore?
As Robb Walsh points out succinctly in The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Gebhardt’s Chili Powder and his recipes represented the fusion so to speak of northern Mexico cooking and Anglo tastes in San Antonio. Fortunately, there is a growing distinction in people’s understanding as well as their lexicon regarding what has been considered Mexican restaurant fare is actually Tex-Mex. Instead of incorrectly assuming this term to be pejorative, it is now being understood as a melding of aspects of northern Mexican and southern Texan diet.
It may be good chile powder, but it’s chile powder. If you want to taste the absolute freshest and be able to make subtle adjustments by recipe, grind your own. Just takes a spice or coffee grinder (that hasn’t had coffee in it!). The whole dried chiles are sold everywhere now. Mixing negro, amarillo, California, New Mexico, etc. allows for very subtle flavor combinations. Finally, ALL spices should be ground from the whole spice. Oxidation is the enemy and once you increase the surface area by grinding, shelf life is very limited. Compare fresh ground black pepper to what’s the best ground. Not even close. This is the same deal.
The other thing is that it’s not so much a chile powder as it is a chile mix, like Wick Fowler’s. If you want to make your own Gebhart, I think you’ll find this clone recipe is close.
4 dried New Mexico chiles for hot, 4 dried Ancho chiles for mild
1 dried red cayenne pepper, for hot
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1 teaspoon ground corriander seed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
Hope this isn’t a double post. Haven’t seen the one I did come up and it’s been about a week.
Check it out:
4 dried Ancho chiles
1-2 dried red cayenne peppers, for hot
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1 teaspoon ground corriander seed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
Please tell me where I can find tour chili powder. I have used it for years but moved to oklahoma and can’t find it. I live near oklahoma city ok. Love it so much. Chili is awful without it. Please help me find it!! Sincerely Mandy😅
Where can I find gebdardt chili powder in oklahoma city ok. Love it. Used it for 35 years in tx. Then moved to oklahoma.
where can I buy large 5 LB Plastic Jug. 5 lb.Gebhardt Chili Powder anyone know.
I am just wondering if you the company is ever going to make the old Enchilada sauce recipe again. The new enchilada sauce is better for making chili, than enchiladas. I loved the previous recipe, it was orange in color and sauce was thicker, it was so delicious in my foods, i would even make Tortilla Soup, just added chicken broth to it. What happened? I have since learned to make enchilada sauce from scratch, but would love to see old recipe come back, maybe in a different labeled can. I love all your products, but its been maybe 2-3 years since you all changed the sauce. Thank you
I love gebhardts chili powder. When I lived in Arizona I could find it every where really easy. Now that I live on the oregon coast I can’t get it anywhere but online. I wish I could order a bigger bottle than 3oz. I have one recipe that takes a full oz of gebhardts. I have tried substituting with other chili powders when I can’t get it but recipes don’t taste right.
I worked for Gebhardt’s back in the late 70s early 80s. I was Director of Quality Control and Research and Development. The Chili Powder was bought from Cal-Compack, another Beatrice Foods Division in California. Apparently, the company no longer exists. Another replacement, almost identical was from a spice company in San Antonio called Bolner’s. You might want to try Fiesta also in San Antonio. They had a similar product. Hope that helps.
For those of you looking to buy Gebhardt’s Chile Powder in bulk, you can order it from Mild Bills. Their website changed to http://www.mildbillsspices.com. Contact Kelly if you want to order more than the 3 oz bottle that shows on the website. I’ve been ordering 5 lbs at a time, every couple of years, and yes…it is the original Gebhardts, not a wannabe product! Kelly’s email address is kelly@mildbillsspices.com. She will let you know if it’s in stock at the moment…
Does the San Antonio Chili Pepper, Ground Dark, contain wheat or gluten? I purchased a one-pound container of it, and am very sad to say that I am having trouble with it ( I have Celiac Disease).
The Gebhardt tamales were the BEST canned tamales ever produced !!! I almost cried when they were discontinued 😣
How can i get a supply of chili powder? Usually the hubby brings it back from Texas but he could not find it in bastrop