Chilhuacle negro ✦

Chilhuacle negro

What it is

The chilhuacle grows on fewer than ten hectares in the Cañada of Oaxaca and yields about a tonne a hectare, which is why dried pods pass 200 dollars a pound and make it the most expensive chilli in Mexico. Its name comes from Nahuatl chilli and huactli, old — and mole negro genuinely cannot be built without it.

In the kitchen

Toast the pods on a dry comal until they smell of tobacco, ten to fifteen seconds a side — a second too long and the whole mole turns irreversibly bitter. Then soak twenty minutes in hot water and blend with the soaking liquid.

Goes with

Chile mulato Chile pasilla Dark chocolate Sesame Turkey Almond Clove Plantain

Same species

Ají amarillo Ají panca Ajvar Aleppo pepper Ancho chilli Bell pepper

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