Puya
Decidedly tart, almost limey, in Lucinda Hutson’s description; Spices Inc. notes cherry and licorice.
5,000 to 8,000 SHU, per Spices Inc. The same company’s guide gives 5,000 to 10,000 elsewhere; Dave DeWitt’s heat scale does not list it. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.
The puya, also spelled pulla, is a slender dried red chile three to four inches long. It is close kin to the guajillo but smaller and hotter. Its flavor is fruity and sharp.
Fiery Foods' glossary gives puya two meanings: another name for the de árbol, and a form of the mirasol or guajillo. Most sellers use it in the second sense. Lucinda Hutson, in ¡Viva Tequila!, describes a blood-red pod about four inches long, tapering to a curved tip, related to the guajillo.
Spices Inc. says puyas are native to Mexico’s Central Valley, the highland plateau around Mexico City, and are plentiful in Michoacán and Jalisco. It describes pods three to four inches long and under an inch wide, and advises buying those with a rich maroon skin. They go into salsas, enchilada sauces, soups, and stews.
Spices Inc. rates the puya at 5,000 to 8,000 Scoville units in one place and up to 10,000 in another, and says its mildest pods match the hottest guajillos. Hutson suggests de árbol, guajillo, New Mexico, or cayenne pods as substitutes.