Pasilla Pepper / Bajio Chilaca Pepper
Pasilla peppers are are known as Chile Negro, or Chilaca when picked fresh. The name, ‘Pasilla’ means ‘little raisin’ in Spanish, referring to the dark brown, wrinkled dried pod. The plant height grows 30 inches tall and produces a large fruit in the size of 8 – 10 inches in length and 1 inch diameter. Like most peppers it is astronomically classified as a Capsicum annuum. It carries a very mild Scoville unit rating of 1000, making it a mildly hot fruit. The pepper is slightly sweet and has a very distinctive slender shape, it's thin walled, and ripens from dark green to dark brown. When well ripened and used as a dried pod or in powder form, they have a unique rich and full flavor that is the key ingredient in mole, a signature Mexican holiday sauce from the Oaxaca region of Mexico.
The Pasilla pepper spice is getting a nod from the media in December 2023 – did you read CNN's article today about the "new" flavor will dominate menus in 2024? The delicious Pasilla pepper is getting some attention, and for good reason. It's delicious. 
Growing your own Pasilla Peppers by growing the Bajio Chilaca Pepper:
Grow in full sun in fertile garden soil or in a medium large container. Buy seeds and they will take up to 3 weeks to germinate and then another 2 more weeks for the roots to fill the soil. By that time the baby bush will be 6 inches tall and ready for the garden or container. Within 85 days of watching them grow, your going to be picking and drying the dark brown fruits.
Cooking with Pasilla Pepper / Bajio-Chilaca Peppers
It has a rich smoky flavor and can be used to flavor any dish. It has always been a long-standing staple ingredient in the Mole sauces of Latin America, and now this pepper is gaining favor among chefs as well for its uniquely dense pepper flavor. 
The Pasilla can even create an interesting twist in the flavor and appearance of the standard red chile enchilada sauce. It is also a favorite in combination with fruits or accompanying duck, seafood, mushrooms, garlic, fennel, honey or oregano.
