Dried Chile: Ancho
Free shipping on orders $50+
Dense, raisiny anchos are the foundation chile for many, many sauces. By drying fresh Poblano chiles, the flavors are allowed to fully develop. With very little heat, you can use many of them for an intense chile flavor.
Traditionally Mexican cooks will very briefly toast them, then rehydrate them in warm water and then blend them with onion and garlic and a little bit of the soaking water. This paste is fried and then thinned out with stock or water. You can add guajillos or de Arbol chiles for more heat or enjoy the sauce as is.
Also addictive is Scissor Salsa. You simply cut the chiles into strips and slowly rehydrate in an oil and vinegar base. Perfect for taco stuffing. We have the recipe for you here.
These are top quality, moist dried chiles. We don't recommend ordering more than you can use in the immediate future. They are fine even when they are more brittle but it's best to enjoy them at their prime, which is how we will ship them to you.
If you're comparing chiles, we like to think of them this way:
Anchos: The foundation. Dense, raisiny but mild heat. Ideal for Sauces
Guajillos: Light and hot, super fruity. Nice for sauces but not a lot of body. We like 2 anchos to 1 guajillo.
De Arbol: Very hot. Mostly for salsas.
Cascabel: No real heat but great nutty flavor. Mostly used for salsas.
Download our Rancho Gordo Chile Guide here.
Not available for shipping to Canada.
Latin name
Capsicum annuum
Country of origin
Mexico
Shipping Details
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The Rancho Gordo Story
You Can Blame it All on the Dutch
I was shopping one August for tomatoes and, despite Napa being one of the world's most magnificent agricultural regions, all the tomatoes were from a hothouse in Holland! Worse, they were hard and pale pink instead of the ripe tomatoes I was craving. I started to grow my own tomatoes and this eventually led to beans.
My first harvested heirloom bean was Rio Zape. They were pretty and easy to grow but I had no idea what to expect when I cooked them. They were similar to the pintos I liked but there was so much more going on. Hints of chocolate and coffee mixed with an earthy texture made my head spin. I was blown away by Rio Zape and the other heirloom beans I was growing, but also really confused why they were such a big secret. I took the beans to the farmers market, organizing things on my kitchen table. Soon there was a warehouse, followed by more markets and mail order. It seems we had struck a nerve. People agreed that heirloom beans were worth saving, growing and cooking. Currently our warehouse, a retail shop, and offices are in Napa, California, and a stop here is part of many tours of the wine country.
All of my agricultural pursuits have been based on being someone who likes to cook but gets frustrated by the lack of ingredients, especially those that are native to the Americas. One of the things that originally drew me to beans was the fact that they are indigenous to the Americas. It seems to me these indigenous ingredients should be familiar, if not common. American cuisine is re-inventing itself and I'd love to include ingredients, traditions and recipes from north and south of the border as part of the equation. I love the concept of The Americas. I feel as if it's just as important as the European heritage many of us share.
You can read more about the Rancho Gordo story here.