El Mexicano Chili Pods 8 oz (Guajillo 4 pack)

Bag was a little busted but it's the cheap bag they come in. Still a great buy.

Having lived in southern NM for 14 years some time ago, I was totally pleased with these chile pods. The color was bright red as they should be and they were in good shape, no crumbled pods and so no waste. My method as taught to me in NM by some ladies who know is to place themin the kitchen sink, pull off the stems and shake out as many seeds as you can. Then put the pods into a pan of very hot water and let them stand for upwards of 20 minutes to soften. Pour the pan contents into a sieve set over a large pot in order to save the water. One by one take a pod out, place it on a baking sheet, cut it down one side and open it up. Use a sharp paring knife and scrape the chile "meat" off the skin. When finished, place the chile in a saucepan, add garlic and oregano to taste and enough of the chile water to make it a sauce consistency. Heat it to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. Add more water as is necessary. It is now ready for enchiladas as is or what we call Chile Meat, by adding prefried chunckis of beef or pork or fried ground beef. Serve with beans on the side or add them to the pot. New Mexican Perfection!

These were perfect for making red sauce. Couldn’t find them locally.

I ordered chiles from 2 different vendors, Ole Rico and El Mexicano. The El Mexicano showed up in a cellophane bag. You can smell the chiles through the bag easily. While the texture was okay, about half of the bag was beyond dried and crispy. This makes the chiles really hard to work with in de-seeding and cleaning and is a clear indication of age. I put the chiles in a Food Saver bag with a damp paper towel to see if they can recover a little and soften up.The Ole' Rico chiles showed up in oxygen barrier bags (no smell through the bag at all) and the texture was absolutely perfect - leathery and pliable. El Mexicano needs to get with the program if they want to measure up. I have no affiliation with either brand, just a customer.I avoid 1 star reviews because these people are usually just chronic complainers. My rule of thumb is if the 4 and 5 star reviews get over 90%, you are golden. However, these just barely cracked my 90% barrier and the stark contrast with them and Ole' Rico was so obvious, I wanted to draw a clear distinction between the two. While these are serviceable, the Ole' Rico brand is so much better you should really take a look. Again, no affiliation.

I liked the firmness, the flavor was excellent. We normally make tamales for our Christmas celebration but covid interrupted our plans.we are moving forward.

Despite receiving other chili types from this same vendor, my package of Guajillos were basically unusable. I was lucky enough not to have the maggot issues others had, but they were a total loss regardless [and, of course] are not eligible for any refund or replacement by default.As others have stated, properly dried chilis should be tough/dense, not too dissimilar to beef jerky or leather. The chilis I received, all of them, were EXTREMELY dry. A single chili, placed alone on the countertop, would break instantly with the pressure from one finger. No more pressure than would be used on the touchscreen of a phone. More than half of the peppers were broken already and the bag was full of seeds at the bottom. And due to a vent port in the bag, they were throughout the box as well.As a former Amazon employee (facility health & safety) and a low-grade foodie, I can absolutely confirm that this could not happen while being transported or stored at an Amazon facility. The heat and humidity levels required for this lever of drying cannot exist in an Amazon facility. (I personally monitored temp/humidity sensors all over our building). These chilis could only be overly dried at the producer and then sold due to either negligence or intentional disregard for any product standards.

The media could not be loaded.  There we bugs in the bag. Brand new bag I ordered and had not been opened yet.

I bout guajillos a few years ago and remember being disappointed with the heat level - it did not exist. So When I found a recipe that called for them again, I was fully prepared to have them NOT be spicy at all. I was wrong! hoo-ah these were full medium to hot peppers. Pleasantly surprising!