3 OZ

An indispensable ingredient for traditional Mexican mole sauces, the ancho can also be reconstituted and stuffed. This chile has mild fruit flavor with tones of coffee, liquorice, tobacco, dried plum, and raisin, with a little woodiness.

The ancho is the sweetest of the dried chiles, with mild to medium heat (3), a dark mahogany color, and an orange-red cordovan tint when held up to the light.

It is wrinkled, with broad shoulders (ancho means wide in Spanish) tapering to a round end, measuring 3-5 inches in length and 2-3 inches across the shoulders. With medium-thick flesh, it is at its best when very flexible and aromatic.

The ancho chile is in fact a dried poblano, and is the most commonly used dried chile in its native Mexico.

Origin: Mexico