Talk:Pasilla

message: I bought this fresh "pasillla" (pictured) at a Mexican Supermarket (Vallarta) and it was labelled "Pasilla". Peppers of the same ilk were sold at Vons under the same name (in Southern California). I guess my question is, should the caption read "Chilaca?" They don't label it as such at super makets (at least in LA). Perhaps I should ask a native Spanish speaker? I mean, I'm not sure if the common names of these sub-varieties of Capsicum Annum (fresh vs. dried) are very exact.
PureJadeKid (talk) 05:18, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Terminology 

message: I found a good source that sort of explains and resolves everything.
Kennedy, Diana. From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2003.
Chilacas are long, narrow chiles, sometimes curling at the end; this has earned them the Michoacan name of cuernillos, or "big horns," or chiles para deshebrar, since they are torn, not cut into strips. They are prevalent in the cooking of central-western Mexico, especially Michoacan, and Mexico City. They are a deep, almost blackish, green and they ripen to a dark chocolaty brown. When ripe, they are dried and become pasillas or negros. The surface is very shiny with vertical ridges---which makes them easy to shred---but the flesh is thin, therefore skinning them is rather labor-intensive. Because of their diverse sizes, choosing an average is purely arbitrary, but let's go by those I have in front of me: 7 inches (18cm) long and 3/4 to 1 inch (2-2.5cm) wide.
***
Although I saw chilacas many, many years ago in a Los Angeles market, they never caught on. Only now are they making a comeback, and are appearing in some supermarkets catering to a large Mexican population. But if they are not available, substitute poblanos, as recipes will tell you to do.
p. 40 Chilaca
... [The chile poblano] is cultivated in many parts of Mexico and now exported to the United States. It is also known as chile para rellenar, or "chile for stuffing," as gordo in Jalisco, and jaral in the state of Mexico, among others. In the United States it is often marked "pasilla," which indicates something dried and wrinkled, or the oxymoronic name, "fresh pasilla." When ripened on the plant, then, dried the poblano becomes the chile ancho. ...
***
Poblanos are being grown on a commercial scale in Washington and Oregon states, but they are exceedingly hot and do not have the pleasant characteristic flavor of the Mexican originals.
These chiles are now easy to find in the United States in larger supermarkets or Mexican groceries, but often marked incorrectly.
p.49-50 Poblano
The chile ancho (or wide chile, as it is more commonly known in Mexico) is the poblano ripened and dried. Confusingly, in parts of Michoacan and Colima it is called pasilla, or sometimes pasilla roja, and since a great number of Michoacanos have migrated to the United States, the name for these chiles had gone with them. I have even seen bags of identical chiles, side by side, some marked ancho and some pasilla. So beware!
p. 60 Chile Ancho
The chile pasilla (pasilla means "large" [sic... ed. note: should be "dried" or "wrinkled"]) is the dried chile chilaca. In some areas it is known as chile negro. It is a long narrow chile, blunt or slightly pointed at the end. It has a shiny black skin and a surface puckered with vertical ridges. An average-size chile pasilla is about 6 inches (15cm) long and 1 inch (2.5cm) wide and can range from fairly hot to hot; when rehydrated it has a sharp but rich flavor.
***
It is readily available in the United States.
p. 74 Chile Pasilla
PureJadeKid (talk) 03:05, 12 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Terminology Redux