This vital Mexican and Southwestern US pepper is known by another name before it’s dried: the ripened poblano pepper. The pre-ripened green poblano is often used in cooking, but lacks the sweetness and brilliant crimson color of the ancho. Even though it has been fully ripened, the ancho typically is mild to medium-hot. Savor the smoky spiciness of this pepper as a finishing powder or as an edgy addition to your cooking!

Cooking notes

• Add to Mexican and Southwestern cuisine dishes like mole, enchilada sauce, salsa, and chili
• To disperse the ancho’s heat throughout the dish, add the powder to the wet ingredients and mix well before adding it to the dry ingredients.
• Make rock-your-socks-off sour cream by adding some ground ancho to full-fat sour cream (if you want to use reduced-fat, that’s fine, but the flavor won’t capture you as well).
• Add some ancho powder to your mashed potatoes for a flavor “pop.”