Pasillas, along with Anchos and Mulatos, are important ingredients in Mexican dishes such as moles. I use all three in chile con carne and I recommend them for that. They are mild. They make a nice contribution to flavor, consistency and color of the sauce. I use lots of chiles and very little tomato. I adjust the heat level with hot chiles.

I planted 'Pasillas' this year but, unfortunately, they turned out to be something else. Dried Pasillas look like a flattened, black, wrinkled cigar. Mine were bright red and conical. So I stocked up on dried Pasillas from the store to cook with and will see if the seeds from those are viable.

Jim

Pasilla Bajio is a mild dark chile with a mild smokey flavor. It is not a small plant, but if you know that you might make it work. They are very common and you can find seeds in the seed racks if you only want this one variety and don't want to pay shipping for one packet.

Jeff,

It's easily one of the best non-hot peppers I have ever grown. Tremendous amt of flavor. Been several years since have grown any though as the large dried pods lasted for a long time. Excellent addition to soups etc. My seeds came from the dreaded 'Totally Tomatoes'. Sorry, don't have any saved seeds to share and will probably be buying some myself this coming year.

jt

Thanks for the replies. I have a couple of catalogs coming in December and there's a good chance I'll be ordering some of these seeds. I can't recall seeing Pasilla Bajio on any seed racks I looked at this past spring. I want to order a few things anyways so I'll buy these when I decide what else to get.

I've got wimpy taste buds and prefer a more mild hot pepper. False Alarm will suit me well, but I do want to try a little more heat also. Still have some seeds left over that will probably germinate so in reality I don't need to order much more. Jalapeno, Serrano, Anaheim, Hungarian Yellow Wax (or Hot Wax I forget), and Ancho are the hot pepper seeds I still have some of. I kind of prefer just buying fresh seeds but will see how well these germinate first. Unfortunately my growing space in my apartment consist of 1 bedroom. I have a couple of 4 ft shoplights (hanging above the garden) with 3 spiral CFL's hitting the plants from the sides. Maybe it'll work, maybe it wont. But it's a learning experience and fun trying different methods out.

Well, here's looking to the '06 gardens.

Jeff