Chipotle Morita, Smoke-Dried Red Jalapeño

Aromatic profile

Culinary use

• When to add : toasted in a dry pan for 30 seconds, then soaked in hot water 15 minutes and blended into a sauce; or simmered whole into the braise and pulled out at the end
• Dosage : 1 to 2 whole chiles for a salsa or sauce serving four; 3 to 4 for a full pot of beans or a braise
• Ideal pairings : adobo and chili braises, barbecue and BBQ sauce, black bean soup, tomato salsa roja, pulled pork and brisket rubs, mole and enchilada sauce
• Avoid with : delicate white fish, fresh fruit salads, anything you want to taste clean and unsmoked

The grain in detail

Chipotle Morita is a ripe red jalapeño that has been smoke-dried, and it is the chile that gives so much of Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking its dark, sweet smoke. The name chipotle comes from Nahuatl, chilpoctli, meaning smoked chili, and morita means little mulberry, for the deep reddish-purple color and the small, wrinkled, leathery pod. There are two chipotles worth knowing. The morita is smoked for a shorter time, stays fruitier and softer, and is by far the more common one you'll find in US stores. The meco is smoked longer until it goes ash-gray and leather-dry, with a deeper, almost ashy smoke that's harder to source. Production sits mainly in Chihuahua, where the jalapeños are grown and smoked, and in Veracruz, a long-standing chile-growing belt; the smoking is the whole point, traditionally done over wood for hours until the moisture is driven out and the smoke is baked in. The flavor is the reward: wood smoke up front, then dried cherry and raisin sweetness, tobacco and cocoa underneath, with a stewed-tomato roundness. The heat is moderate, roughly 12,000 to 26,000 Scoville, hotter than a fresh jalapeño but a long way from a habanero, and it builds slowly behind the sweetness rather than biting on contact. The catch most US cooks miss: don't confuse the dried morita with canned chipotles in adobo. The can is already cooked in a tomato-vinegar sauce and brings its own acidity and salt; the dried pod is raw smoke and fruit, and you control everything. Toast the dried chile in a dry pan for about 30 seconds until it puffs and smells of smoke, then soak in hot water 15 minutes and blend, or drop it whole into a braise and fish it out at the end. The morita is the engine of homemade adobo, of a real salsa roja, of black-bean soup and barbecue sauce, and of a pulled-pork or brisket rub that tastes of the pit even from the oven. Good moritas are still pliable, not snapping-brittle, and smell of sweet smoke and dried fruit, never of acrid scorch or musty cardboard. Store them sealed and dry and they'll hold their smoke for a year or more.

History & origin

Smoking chilies to preserve them is a pre-Columbian technique in central Mexico, predating the Spanish. The ripe jalapeño has thick flesh that resists air-drying and rots before it dries, so it was smoke-dried instead, a practice the Aztecs recorded in Nahuatl as chilpoctli. The morita style, smoked for a shorter run and left fruitier and redder, became the everyday chipotle of central and northern Mexico, while the longer-smoked meco stayed more regional. There is no formal appellation; the distinction between morita and meco is one of smoking time and tradition, not certification, and Chihuahua and Veracruz remain the reference growing and smoking regions.

Indicative price

Reference format : 4 oz bag — from $4.00 to $9.00 (median : $5.50).

Storage

Resealable bag or airtight jar, kept dry and out of light. Good moritas stay pliable and leathery, not brittle. Hold their smoke and fruit for a year or more; toast just before use to wake them up.

Where to buy?

Alternatives if unavailable

• Gochugaru
• Aleppo Pepper

Tags

• Mexico
• Chihuahua
• Veracruz
• Capsicum annuum
• smoke-dried
• chipotle
• jalapeño

Frequently asked questions

How do you store Chipotle Morita?

Resealable bag or airtight jar, kept dry and out of light. Good moritas stay pliable and leathery, not brittle. Hold their smoke and fruit for a year or more; toast just before use to wake them up.

What dosage for Chipotle Morita?

1 to 2 whole chiles for a salsa or sauce serving four; 3 to 4 for a full pot of beans or a braise

When should you add Chipotle Morita in cooking?

It's best used toasted in a dry pan for 30 seconds, then soaked in hot water 15 minutes and blended into a sauce; or simmered whole into the braise and pulled out at the end.

What should you avoid pairing Chipotle Morita with?

Avoid with: delicate white fish, fresh fruit salads, anything you want to taste clean and unsmoked.