Best for marinades, rubs, curries, and salad dressings.

Answer: Yes, the terms “crushed red pepper,” “chili flakes” and “red pepper flakes” are often used to describe the same product: dried and crushed red chili peppers, including both the flesh and the seeds. These spices are used interchangeably.

Paprika can be made from several different varietals of the chile pepper family Capsicum annuum, though the different peppers all tend to be of the relatively long, tapered kind with thinner flesh. Fat, thick-fleshed sweet peppers, like a standard Bell pepper that you’ll find in your average grocery store, often don’t dry well enough to make a ground product and are prone to mold. They are valued for their bright red color as much as--or even more than--their flavor. The American Spice Trade Association, or ASTA, came up with a scale to measure paprika's color. The ASTA score goes from 50-180; 85 is a standard-grade color value. As the numbers go up, the color of the paprika is more saturated and vibrant.

While paprika and cayenne have their own stories and benefits, the real differences lie in their culinary uses. In the kitchen, the difference between cayenne and paprika shows up in three ways:

- Paprika extract is commonly used as a natural food colorant, providing a mild coloring effect in various food products. It may also be used for its subtle flavoring properties in certain applications.