Chile cascabel

Chile cascabel

What it is

Cascabel is Spanish for a small bell, and for a rattlesnake's rattle; the name is literal, since the seeds come loose inside the hollow dried pod and rattle when you shake it. Fresh it goes by chile bola, the ball chilli, and it is one of the few Mexican chillies whose shape survives drying intact.

In the kitchen

Shake before you buy — a pod that stays silent has damp seeds stuck to the wall and is past its best. Toast it, then discard the seeds: at this heat level they add only bitterness, and the flavour is all in the wall.

Goes with

Tomato Garlic Onion Cumin Beef Pumpkin seed Lime Oregano

Same species

Ají amarillo Ají panca Ajvar Aleppo pepper Ancho chilli Bell pepper

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