On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:56:40 +0000 (UTC),
(Steve Pope) wrote:

>Are these three different chilis, or just one, or
>are there two varieties being described here?
>
>A fresh poblano chili is often called a pasilla.
>I'm guessing the right name is poblano.
>
>On the other side, some dried pasilla chili powder that
>I buy is labeled "Pasilla (Ancho)". Which is it?
>Is it the same, or different as dried chili labeled
>"Ancho"?
>
>Finally, the "Pasilla (Ancho)" stuff is not nearly
>as dark as packages of chili powder labeled mereley "Pasilla".
>
>I am thankful this confusion has not extended to engulf
>Chimayo, or New Mexico chili.
>
>My last batch of chili had all of the above, plus
>red Mexican cherry chilis which were very hot, and
>which allowed me to use less of the powders than normal --
>resulting in a fresher overall chili.
>
Rick Bayless discusses this in one of his cookbooks. He calls it the
Michoacan nomenclature problem (or something like that). According to
Bayless, the good people of Michoacan use the word "pasilla" to refer
to a chile most others call a "poblano." And many of the Mexican
immigrants to California apparently come from that Michoacan. So
Californians have adopted the Michoacan word for a chile which is
elsewhere called a poblano.

Here in Texas, a poblano looks like this:
http://www.worldcrops.org/images/con...ield_-_550.JPG

And a pasilla (often called pasilla negra) looks like this:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/images/pasilla.jpg

A dried poblano is an ancho. That's here, though. As long as people
know what you mean in your part of the world, things should work out
okay.

Now as to the midwesterners who call bell peppers mangoes, well they
must be stopped.