Guide to Mexican Dried Chiles

Published on Thursday, February 5, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Guide to Mexican Dried Chiles

There are three chiles that often crop up in Mexican recipes: pasillas, guajillos, and chiles de arbol. Chef Deborah Schneider, author of ¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge, shows how to distinguish among them. See more of Schneider’s basic Mexican cooking tips: how to core a pepper, how to make a quick salsa, how to core a tomato, how to toast dried chiles, and how to pit an avocado.

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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  • Here is a way better guide:

    http://www.foodsubs.com/Chiledry.html

  • The long narrow chile called pasilla elsewhere usually is labeled chile 'negro' in California - in the fresh form it is known as 'chilaca'.

    At long last some Cali distributors are labeling dried poblanos as 'pasilla-ancho'.

    Jean Andrews may have got it backwards. Per NMSU the NM chile was developed there about 100 years ago from several different Mexican chiles. Emilio Ortega reportedly...+READ

    The long narrow chile called pasilla elsewhere usually is labeled chile 'negro' in California - in the fresh form it is known as 'chilaca'.

    At long last some Cali distributors are labeling dried poblanos as 'pasilla-ancho'.

    Jean Andrews may have got it backwards. Per NMSU the NM chile was developed there about 100 years ago from several different Mexican chiles. Emilio Ortega reportedly brought the Anaheim (a mild NM variety) back to California from NM, see http://www.ortega.com/mamas_home/story.asp .-COLLAPSE

  • Jean Andrews, author of 'Peppers' (U Texas press) traces the NW chiles to seeds brought north from Mexico in the 1500's, taken to California around 1900 (Anaheims), and then back to NM. Some strains were developed by NM scientists to meet specific needs.

    Guajillo is a dried Mirasol (sun-seeker), and is grown predominately in central Mexico (Aguascalientes, etc). Is is related to the Cascabel...+READ

    Jean Andrews, author of 'Peppers' (U Texas press) traces the NW chiles to seeds brought north from Mexico in the 1500's, taken to California around 1900 (Anaheims), and then back to NM. Some strains were developed by NM scientists to meet specific needs.

    Guajillo is a dried Mirasol (sun-seeker), and is grown predominately in central Mexico (Aguascalientes, etc). Is is related to the Cascabel ('little bell').

    Dried NM and Guajillo both have smooth skin, but there does not seem to be any other close connection.-COLLAPSE

  • A pasilla is a whole 'nother kinda chile. Them there are anchos. And I ain't no capsicum expert, but I believe guajiilo, California, and New Mexico are three diff'rent varieties of chiles.

  • Note that she is using California terminology. That wide wrinkly chile is called 'ancho' (wide) in most other places. It is the dried poblano chile. Poblano is also sometimes labeled pasilla. Elsewhere pasilla (raisin like) refers to a long narrow dried chile. Fortunately they all fall in the same heat range, so confusing one for the other is not disastrous.