Ancho vs Mulato

This one is worth getting right because almost everyone states it wrongly, including, until recently, this site. The usual explanation is that ancho and mulato are the same pepper dried at different stages of ripeness. They are not. They are two different poblano varieties. One ripens to red, is picked a little earlier, and dries into the broad reddish-brown pod sold as ancho. The other ripens all the way to a dark chocolate brown on the plant, and dries almost black, and that is the mulato.

The difference on the bush produces the difference in the jar. Ancho is sweeter and brighter, with dried fruit and a little tobacco. Mulato is softer, darker and rounder, tasting of chocolate and liquorice with a note of dried cherry. Side by side the mulato is noticeably less acidic and less fruity.

Mole poblano traditionally uses ancho, mulato and pasilla together, and the reason is exactly that they are not interchangeable: the ancho brings sweetness and fruit, the mulato depth and darkness, the pasilla a slightly bitter, herbal edge. A mole made with anchos alone comes out thinner and brighter than it should, which is the commonest fault in a home version.