Chipotle meco

Chipotle meco

What it is

Both chipotles begin as a red jalapeño, but the meco is left longer on the plant and then smoked roughly twice as long as the morita — long enough to come out ash-grey and stiff as cardboard. The morita, softer and purple-brown, is what nearly every tin and packet labelled chipotle actually contains.

In the kitchen

It will not rehydrate the way a morita does: give it thirty minutes in near-boiling water and expect to blend and sieve rather than chop. Use half what a recipe asks of morita, since the smoke reads about twice as strong.

Goes with

Tomato Garlic Onion Black bean Pork Lime Molasses Cumin

Same species

Ají amarillo Ají panca Ajvar Aleppo pepper Ancho chilli Bell pepper

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