Chile Yahualica
Also known as chile de Yahualica · chile de árbol Yahualica · chile de árbol tipo Yahualica · alfilerillo · cola de ratón · sanjuanero · cuauhchilli · cuachilli
Chile Yahualica is a Capsicum annuum landrace from Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. Capsi’s sourced range is 35,724–58,192 SHU (Lab-verified). Flavor is smoky, dried fruit, malty. Used for Salsa macha, birria, pozole, tortas ahogadas, menudo. Heat is a range, not a single marketing number.
Chile Yahualica is the protected chile de árbol grown in eleven municipalities of Los Altos de Jalisco and southern Zacatecas. The slim bright-red pods are sold mostly dried and season Jalisco plates such as tortas ahogadas and birria.
Growing
~110 days to maturity
Fruit size
4–7 cm
Flavor & Use
Smoky dried plum and fig with a malty, even heat that cooks in Jalisco describe as tasty rather than punishing.
Culinary
About
Pods are narrow and tapered with a slight hook at the tip, two seed chambers, and about seventy seeds. They ripen from green to bright red and run four to seven centimeters in first grade, longer in extra. Dried fruit carries a clean, malty heat with smoked plum and fig notes. Cooks toast them for salsa macha, grind them into birria and pozole broths, and use them anywhere a generic árbol would go. In the home region the plants stay about 30 to 80 centimeters and the first pick comes 110 to 120 days after transplant.
Backstory
Growers in Los Altos have kept this chile de árbol type on family seed for generations, selecting criolla fruit that takes the semi-arid, iron-rich soils of the plateau. Commercial planting widened in the 1940s around Yahualica de González Gallo, the market town the chile is named for. Mexico granted the Denominación de Origen Yahualica in March 2018, covering nine Jalisco municipalities plus Apulco and Nochistlán de Mejía in Zacatecas. Fruit that carries the name must come from local cultivars of the SNICS-registered Altos type, with no genes from other Capsicum species.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
ExploreChile Yahualica is a traditional landrace.
Sources
FAQ
- How hot is Chile Yahualica?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 35,724–58,192 SHU (Lab-verified). Capsi uses a sourced range and a trust tier, not a single marketing number. How we verify heat: https://web.thecapsi.app/learn/heat-and-capsaicin/how-we-measure-heat
- What does Chile Yahualica taste like?
- Smoky dried plum and fig with a malty, even heat that cooks in Jalisco describe as tasty rather than punishing.
- How do I grow Chile Yahualica?
- Chile Yahualica: about 110 days to maturity, semi-arid highland climate, full sun.
- What can I substitute for Chile Yahualica?
- Chile de Árbol