Guajillo Chile Pods

Guajillo Chile Pods

The Guajillo is the most popular chile we sell. It offers a complex flavor profile, with only mild to medium heat intensity. This makes it a great choice for adding rich flavor to your dishes with overwhelming the palate with fiery heat. Guajillo chile pods offer both sweet and smokey notes. Often people will detect cranberry flavors in particular.

The whole pods range in length from 3 to 5 inches and are about an inch wide. The have have a beautiful deep burgundy color and a smooth satiny sheen on the skin. If you plan to use it for a dry rub, we also offer guajillo powder to save some effort in processing the whole dry pod.

This dried pepper is the second most commonly used in its native Mexico, ceding the popularity contest crown to the ancho, also called the poblano. That’s a wider, darker, and more wrinkled chile. The guajillo looks more appealing on the plate whole as a garnish.

Just like ancho is the name used for the dried poblano, guajillo chile pods in their fresh form on the plant are referred to as mirsol peppers. They grow upward, ‘facing the sun’ (which is what mirasol means), instead of dangling down as is the habit of most chile peppers. Specifically, the plant they come from is Capsicum annuum, l., and is harvested mostly in Mexico and Peru.