Peppers · Dried Poblano
Mulato
Very smoky, with hints of licorice and dried cherry, according to America’s Test Kitchen.
1,000 to 1,500 SHU, per Spices Inc. Pepper Scale gives 2,500 to 3,000 and calls it hotter than the ancho; Dave DeWitt’s heat scale does not list it. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.
The mulato is a dried poblano of a darker kind than the ancho, its broad, wrinkled pod nearly black. It is mild and sweet. In Mexico it is best known as a chile for mole poblano.
Fiery Foods' glossary calls the mulato a variety of dried poblano with very dark brown, almost black pods, grown mainly in Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Puebla. The Chile Pepper Institute describes it as similar to the ancho but brown at maturity, and notes that the fresh poblano in U.S. markets may be a green ancho or a green mulato.
Accounts of what makes a mulato differ. The glossary and the Institute treat it as its own type whose pods ripen brown. Spices Inc. says anchos and mulatos come from the same plant, and that the mulato is the pod left longest, picked once it turns brown on the vine. America’s Test Kitchen calls it a dried smoked poblano.
Cooks handle it like an ancho, and America’s Test Kitchen lists each as a substitute for the other. The pods are stemmed, seeded, toasted, and soaked before blending. Spices Inc. suggests mashing the softened pod into a paste for enchilada sauce or chili.
Sources
- Glossary of Chile Pepper Terms (Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Chile Terminology (Chile Pepper Institute, New Mexico State University)
- All About Common Dried Chiles (America’s Test Kitchen)
- What Are Mulato Chiles (Spices Inc.)
- Mulato Pepper Guide: Heat, Flavor, Uses (Pepper Scale)
- Heat Scale Updated (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)