Are Poblano and Pasilla Peppers the Same Thing?
If you are confused about the various names for different types of chiles, you are not alone. After all, there are close to 4,500 varieties of chiles across the planet, with at least 64 native to the United States and around 200 wild species in Mexico alone. Adding to the confusion is the fact that, in Mexico, fresh, dried, or smoked chiles have different names. For instance, mora (dried) and chipotle (smoked) chiles are different names for the popular jalapeño depending on how they are presented. However, each has a different flavor profile and uses in the kitchen.
So, are poblano and Pasillas the same pepper? Definitely not. Yet it seems that they are sometimes mislabeled at supermarkets, mistaking one for the other. First of all, they don’t even look enough alike to warrant confusion. Poblanos are fresh chiles with waxy, dark green flesh and a wide, conical shape. Pasillas are long, dried chiles that are deep dark brown to almost black in color.
The confusion may arise from the fact that, when dried, chiles poblanos turn into chiles Anchos, which look slightly similar to Pasillas. It might be easy for the uninitiated produce employee to assume that a chili Pasillas is the dried version of the poblano, but that is not the case.
