The Poblano Chile

The Poblano Chile

** Today's article was written by US Navy Veteran Tony Grayson, who's tells us his passion for historical research supports the settings, characters and plots in his novels. * I could not find or obtain a website for this author...



A Poblano Chile is a Chile that was originally cultivated in Puebla, a city, as well as one of the 32 states, that comprise the nation of Mexico. Commonly used as a main ingredient in Mexican cuisine, you likely have seen and tasted it in served meals like Chile Rellenos, Chile-stuffed Poblano Peppers, and in Enchiladas. Web search the image of a Poblano Chile to jog your memory. Notice that it is usually displayed as a green Chile. The green ones are mild in heat, but if the Poblano is allowed to ripen further before it is used as a food ingredient, it will be hotter (especially the red ones).

The Mexican cuisine that you order in the United States has mostly been over-influenced by Spanish domination of the original Mexican food culture (the Spaniards brought over domestic livestock and emphasized dairy ingredients), and it targets the American desire for those food types. But, if you dig deeper into Mexican food history, you will find that such meat that may have been used in Mexican food was wild: rabbits and turkey. Being poor farming folk, it was easier to harvest a Chile than to catch a turkey or to snare a rabbit, so that explains why the mainstay ingredient would be a vegetable, like the Poblano Chile. Plus, the Chile can be stuffed, and, as I said, the degree of ripeness gives license to the cook to vary the degree of heat.

You might agree with me that applying heat into the cooking of a Mexican dish is the art of the cuisine. The chef who wishes to please everyone who dines must balance the degree of heat between the sissies and those who equate pain with pleasure (they like it hot). To do that, it is better to stick with the green Poblano Chile in the dish and offer a bottle of Habanera sauce to the pain seekers. The Poblano Chile's purpose, then, is taste: a fresh taste with a unique flavour signature, one that centres the dish, and allows other flavours (like rice, beans, cilantro, and tomatillo) to be stuffed within so that the dish becomes a masterpiece of culinary delight, an object of conversation, a work of art.

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