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Dried chiles

Most of Mexico’s great sauces start with a handful of dried pods. In Mexico a chile often changes its name when it dries, so here is what each one is, what it was when fresh, and where cooks use it.

Profiles

Dried chile

Ancho

Dried poblano; broad, flat, heart-shaped pod

From fresh poblano

1,000–1,500 SHU (fresh poblano)

Dried chile

Guajillo

Reddish-brown, thin, smooth, shiny-skinned dried chile, about 8–10 cm long

From fresh mirasol

2,500–5,000 SHU (reported values range from 2,000 to 15,000)

Dried chile

Pasilla (chile negro)

Dark, wrinkled dried chile, 6–8 in long

From fresh chilaca

1,000–3,999 SHU

Dried chile

Chile de árbol

Small, slender bright-red chile, 5–7.5 cm long

From fresh chile de árbol (used fresh and dried under the same name)

15,000–30,000 SHU

Dried chile

Cascabel

Small, round dried chile whose loose seeds rattle

From fresh chile bola

1,500–2,500 SHU

Dried chile

Mulato

Flat, wrinkled, brownish-black dried pod, about 10 cm long

From fresh poblano (a variety that ripens to dark brown)

2,500–3,000 SHU

Dried chile

Pasilla de Oaxaca

Smoked pasilla variety; small, thin-walled, wrinkled, mahogany-red

pasilla de Oaxaca

Know before you buy

  • The Scoville scale was created by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912; his organoleptic test dilutes a pepper extract in sugar water until a majority of a five-person tasting panel can no longer detect heat.
  • High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is an analytical alternative that measures capsaicinoid content directly.
  • Scoville ratings are defined per unit of dry mass, so comparing products with different water content can mislead.
  • Pungency within one pepper type can vary by a factor of 10 or more depending on seed lineage, climate, humidity and soil, so published SHU figures are ranges, not fixed values.
  • The Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, established in 1992, is a non-profit dedicated to Capsicum research and education; it does not offer public heat testing.
  • In Mexico many chiles change names when dried: poblano becomes ancho (or mulato for a brown-ripening variety), chilaca becomes pasilla, mirasol becomes guajillo, and smoked red jalapeño becomes chipotle.
  • Because chiles ripen on the plant before drying, many taste sweeter dried than fresh, according to America's Test Kitchen.

Sources: Wikipedia: Scoville scale; Chile Pepper Institute (NMSU); Chile Pepper Institute: Heat; Wikipedia: Poblano; Wikipedia: Mulato pepper; Wikipedia: Pasilla; Wikipedia: Guajillo chili; Wikipedia: Chipotle; America's Test Kitchen: All About Common Dried Chiles