Chipotle chiles are not a unique chile, but are actually dried, smoked jalapeno chiles. They are dark brown and wrinkly, in sharp contrast to the glossy look of fresh chiles, but have a wonderfully rich flavor. Most of the heat of the jalapeno is retained when the chile is dried, so chipotles are fairly spicy, falling in the middle ranges of the heat scale. They have smoky overtones, but the real flavor of the chiles is complex and earthy. Instead of causing a sharp and immediate heat, the heat grows gradually as you eat it and takes time to fade away.
In truth, most kinds of chilies can be smoke-dried and sometimes they are all called "chipotle" no matter what they started out as, but the vast majority of the chipotle chiles on the market were originally jalapenos.
Chiles were first dried with smoke, rather than air, because the heat caused the plants to dry much more quickly and efficiently, especially in some of the relatively humid areas of the Americas they could be grown in, and would prevent decay. The first chiles were smoked hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, but their existence was first recorded when Spaniards came to Mexico in the 16th century.
When properly smoked, the chiles have up to 90% of their moisture removed. They are easy to store, but not quite as easy to use in this state. Some chipotle chiles are sold dried, while others are ground down into a powdered spice, which makes a nice addition to spice rubs, sauces, dips or other dishes. One of the most common ways the chiles are sold is packed in adobo sauce. Adobo sauce is a dark red sauce made from more chiles, vinegar and spices, sometimes with the addition of tomato paste, which acts as a preservative and adds a lot of moisture to the previously dried chipotles. This makes them very easy to chop up and add to a dish, not to mention that the adobo sauce itself is quite tasty, too.
Chipotles are commonly used in soups, stews, salsas and sauces. Due to its earthy flavor, it pairs very well with chocolate, so it is often used in variations on Oaxacan mole sauce, which uses cocoa, and sometimes even in desserts, like Chocolate Chipotle Brownies. Chipotle can enhance the flavor of virtually any spicy or smoky dish, but to get started, try one of these recipes:
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