I am growing some too. mines are still green.
Dried poblano is called ANCHO which is not pure red, but black and red.

If the peppers were grown to be sold as vegetables, there was no interest in keeping the seeds purebred. So it is very possible that the commercial poblanos were grown right next to a field of some other pepper resulting in seeds that are a cross between two types of pepper.

Poblanos are a distinctive shape. Do your peppers look like poblanos? The flavor of poblanos is distinctive. Do your chilies taste like poblanos?

Most of my poblanos are eaten green: enchilada sauce, burrito stuffing, chili relleno, salsa. Although, I have to say, I think they also make the best chili powder.

The peppers are shaped like Poblanos. They are dark green before they ripen. The 1st one I picked when it was still green & it was fairly hot. The Poblanos I let ripen to the orange color were mostly sweet tasting.

John

Mine turn bright red like a sweet pepper (Ancho 101 variety). The color turns a bit darker (Fire Engine red) when I dry them with a dehydrator (24 hrs to crispy dry). I suppose slow drying to the soft stage found in stores is responsible for the almost black color if they started out red, but they may have been dried green?

@Spiced - Do you dry them whole or cut them up first?

I am growing some Ancho 101 this year and plan to dry most of them for chili powder. But, thinking about the size of the Poblano type peppers and my dehydrator, I'll either have to remove shelves or cut up the peppers to get them to fit.

Just curious how you did it (assuming you were happy with the results).

The Mexicans have a whole different idea about plants. For example their Jalapeno will produce several different looking peppers to Americans. Basically they are growing LAND RACE veggies. That means they have a wonderful full compliment of genes. I am sure your Poblano peppers are more true mexican poblano peppers then the limited genetics of any American seed.

I cut them in wide strips so they sit flat on the shelves. I try to halve even the smaller varieties when dehydrating. With something like Cayennes I'll roughly chop them in half or thirds. Opening up inside of the peppers to the the air helps them dry faster. You could maybe even double layer the strips and still get good drying. I have piled halved peppers onto the shelves with good results.

I didn't bother grinding last year so I usually soften the pieces in hot water and then put that into the blender. I don't know if powder will do this, but using the blender releases alot of pecten so my chili is really thick the next day.

I have grown several varieties of poblanos, that mature with varying size, shape and heat. I haven't noticed a variety of colors when ripe. Here's a source with pictures of several varieties.

Ancho's start on page 1

Here is a link that might be useful: Cross Country Nurseries

nanelle,

Could you list the varieties you have grown and give us some idea of heat and flavor differences. It's difficult to get comapartive info from seed sites other than for size, which I don't care about.

Thanks.

According to my notes I have grown Ancho San Louis, Ancho Villa, Ancho 101, Ancho San Martin, Ancho Ventura, Ancho Arlo (doesn't sound right; might be shorthand) before growing Tiburon. I was looking for a largish size, one that grew sort of flat so they where easier to roast and peel, to stuff for rellenos, and one that ripened bright red, and had some moderate heat for pepper jelly. This is what the guy at my farmers market sold. I never got consistent results in terms of size and heat, so I asked him what he grew. He said Tiburon, and I tried those for a few years as well, but in my garden ( N. Cal valley, HOT!!! and dry) they get some blossom end rot (not on the blossom end). Lately I just buy from him...

While I can't compete with the farmer market guy's poblanos, my habaneros, serranos, thai hots, and some italian fryers do fine, so YMMV.

Thanks for the explanation, spiced!

I found this caterpillar on my poblano pepper after it ate 1 of the peppers & almost all of the leaves. This is the 2nd one I found in 3 days. These gluttons seem to be able to eat 10 times their own body weight in 1 day. An ID or tips on eliminating these critters would be appreciated.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to caterpillar photo

Here is a link that might be useful: Caterpillar Photo

Isn't that a tomato hornworm?

That's exactly what it is.
I hate the damned things....kill them as you find them.
Kill them while they are still small.

Josh