Ingredients · Spice

Pasilla Chile

Capsicum annuum · Solanaceae (nightshade family)

Pasilla Chile
The little raisin — pasilla, for the dark wrinkled skin it dries into. Fresh it is the chilaca, a long narrow often twisted pod that turns dark brown; dried it is nearly black, which is why it is also called chile negro. Earthy and berry-like with a dried-fruit sweetness and almost no heat. Two products carry it. One confusion worth clearing up: in the United States "pasilla" is often used for the fresh poblano, which is a different chile entirely and dries into the ancho.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partFruit
KindSpice
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromMexico
TasteEarthy and berry-like with a dried-fruit sweetness, deep and complex, almost no heat

How to use it

Toast, soak and blend. In mole, salsa borracha, enchiladas, black bean soup and braises. Its darkness is the point — pasilla is what makes a sauce black rather than red.

With food

Black beans. Lamb and pork. Chocolate. Mushroom. Tomatillo. Raisin. Corn. Coffee.

With spices

Ancho and guajillo. Cumin and Mexican oregano. Clove, cinnamon and anise, in mole. Garlic. Sesame.

With tea

Not a tea ingredient.

Its story

Where it comes from

Mexico, the cradle of the chile — cultivation at Tehuacán in Puebla is dated to 7000–2555 BC, and "chile" comes from Nahuatl chilli. Our product is described as pasilla negro chile. Note that Oaxaca's pasilla de Oaxaca is a different, smoked thing used in mole negro; ours is the ordinary dried chilaca.

What happened

Pasilla belongs to a weekend. In Hidalgo, which makes over 78 per cent of Mexico's pulque, pit-roasted lamb barbacoa is served with salsa borracha — drunken salsa — of ground pasilla, garlic, olive oil and pulque. Barbacoa was noted as most commonly served at Actopan and Apan as early as 1844, in the Mezquital Valley, whose traditional inhabitants are the Otomí. Oaxaca, the land of the seven moles, uses its own smoked pasilla in mole negro. It is one of the classic mole chiles alongside ancho, mulato and chipotle.

On the shelf with it

Sold on its own, and in these blends.

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