Mexican Ancho dried chillies:
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Ancho, meaning wide in Spanish, is a dried poblano pepper. The fresh pepper's characteristic green color is due to the fact it's typically consumed when unripen — before the skin color turns to a darker hue. During ancho production, poblano chiles are matured to a bold red color and then dried. Such a process imparts ancho's unmistakably delicious, earthy flavour.
Ancho chilies are one of Mexico's most utilized dried peppers, alongside árbol and guajillos. They are the least spicy of the three, with a Scoville ranking of 500-3,000. Combined with their rich, fleshy body, appealing color, and ultra-flavourful quality, anchos are one of the easiest peppers to integrate into foods. Rehydrated as well as powdered, many dishes rely upon their trademark flavour.
Anchos are distinct from guajillos, chipotles, and other dried varieties due to their initial pepper pre-processing. However, there is another dried variety made from poblanos — the mulato. This varietal is dried once poblanos mature to an even darker brown hue, which lends it an accompanying chocolatey flavour. While visually similar, make note that the mulato has a sweeter, smokier flavour, so don't confuse them.
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