Pasilla Mixe

Intensely smoky and meaty with notes of dried red berries, cocoa, tobacco, toasted allspice, and earthiness; pleasant chile spice and lingering throat heat.

Pasilla Mixe (also Pasilla de Oaxaca) is a Capsicum annuum variety grown exclusively in the rugged Sierra Mixe highlands of Oaxaca by indigenous Ayuuk (Mixe) farmers. Fresh pods ripen from dark green to deep red; after harvest they are smoke-dried over oak wood for several days in traditional ovens or caves. The result is a long, narrow, deeply wrinkled, deep-burgundy pod with complex flavor: intensely smoky and almost meaty, layered with dried fruit, cocoa, tobacco, and earthiness. Heat is medium and lingers in the throat. It is used to make chintextle paste, salsas, escabeches, stuffed chiles (with picadillo or cheese), moles, and broths.

Indigenous Mixe (Ayuukjä’äy) communities in Oaxaca’s Sierra Mixe highlands grow this ancestral chile. Mature vine-ripened pods (green → deep red) are harvested and traditionally smoke-dried for several days over oak or mesquite in artisanal bamboo/clay ovens or caves. This centuries-old preservation method in the humid highlands infuses intense meaty smokiness while wrinkling the skin, giving the 'pasilla' (little raisin) name and distinguishing it from sun-dried standard pasillas.