Source · farm

Mexican dried-chile farm

Zacatecas highlands, MX

Placeholder farm entry — most of Mexico's named dried chiles come from a handful of producing states (Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Sinaloa). Each chile is a different cultivar of *Capsicum annuum* harvested ripe and then sun-dried (some, like chipotle, also wood-smoked). The named chile is the dried form; the fresh-state name is different (poblano fresh → ancho dried; jalapeño fresh → chipotle smoked-dried).

Mexican cooking distinguishes chiles by their dried, processed form — guajillo, ancho, pasilla, chipotle, árbol, cascabel, mulato — each with its own profile of heat, smoke, and fruit. A mole is an exercise in chile blending; an al pastor marinade leans on guajillo and ancho specifically. The fresh-versus-dried-chile vocabulary is the first thing a foreign cook has to learn, and the part most recipes elsewhere skip past.