Sight and touch are the most important aspects of shopping for dried chiles in a market. If you are buying see-through packages of peppers, be sure to examine the contents carefully and avoid any with punctures in the wrapping. Try to feel the dried pods inside the package. The color, appearance, and texture should closely match the individual descriptions given in the Gallery of Dried Peppers (beginning on this page). The more you work with them, the more you will notice signs of peak or past-peak quality. For instance, if you get to know the pliant suppleness that a good-quality ancho or mulato should have, you will recognize that a stiff, woody feel indicates the peppers have been stored too long. Buy only as much as you need at a time. Dried peppers don’t stay in prime condition for more than 6 months; and you cheat yourself when you try to work with stale ones.
I have to stress that for all the glory of fresh peppers, dried peppers deserve equal billing. Their beauty is of a different kind, evoking the colors of an autumn forest filled with deep reds, tawny browns, dusky oranges, and subtly muted yellows. Slow, controlled drying reveals dimensions not present in the fresh fruit. By way of comparison, think of the flavors brought out in fresh dates, grapes, figs, plums, and apricots by drying. If fresh Mexican chiles and Andean ajíes speak to our tastebuds with bright clarity, the dried versions offer something fuller, deeper, earthier, and more evolved. Yes, they can be added to cooking sauces. But they come into their own when used as the true foundation of the sauce, binding all other elements in pungent but balanced harmony.
The dried peppers you choose to buy may depend on how you mean to use them. Larger specimens are preferable for stuffing, while size doesn’t matter as much when you use them for sauces. The firmer, more intact, and free of crumbled bits they are, the better. Contrary to my advice for fresh peppers, choose prepackaged over loose, dried peppers if possible.
Dried peppers show up for sale at a range of different venues. Years of experience have led me to a sobering realization: At many stages from field to display bin, dried peppers are left open to contamination by small animals or insects. I now think it is best to treat dried peppers from all commercial sources (including online sellers) as potentially unsanitary. I make sure to rinse them in plenty of cold water, drain them well, and spread them out to sit until bone-dry before going further. (If they retain any moisture, they will steam later on, instead of roasting.) Of course, these precautions are unnecessary if you do your own drying in a home dehydrator.
