Central & South America

Guajillo Chile

Capsicum annuum.

Fruit.

Part Used

Dried, whole or ground.

Form

Chile guajillo (Spanish).

Mexico.

Tangy, moderately hot, with a bright berry-like fruitiness and a slight green-tea astringency.

A foundational tangy-sweet chile for salsas and mole bases.

Salsa roja; various mole and adobo bases; birria.

Ancho, pasilla, garlic, vinegar.

Toast briefly, then rehydrate before blending into a sauce.

Whole dried pods keep well over a year sealed and dark.

A mix of ancho and a small amount of dried cranberry approximates the tangy-fruity direction, though not closely.

Provides the tangy, brighter fruit note that balances ancho's sweetness and pasilla's earthiness in the classic three-chile mole combination.

Mole spice base; birria spice base.