More than a century ago, on a hacienda in Guanajuato, Mexico, a community was born whose passion revolves around chili peppers. There, a company that is more than just a factory has created family ties in the community of “La California,” producing a dish of export quality: Mole Rancho La California.
This product tastes like family, celebration, tradition, and roots
The recipe for “Mole Rancho La California” combines dried criollo chiles, cultivated by the community itself for over a century, with the recipe that Don Casimiro Peña, son of Don León Peña, better known as the “King of Chile,” bought from Doña Lupita, a woman in Puebla who made the best mole.
The innate knowledge of chiles that the inhabitants of the La California community have and the incomparable seasoning of the women result in a mole that people in the United States, Latin America, and Europe fall in love with for its flavor.
“We want Mexicans to feel a connection with our product, so that when they try it, they remember their home, their community, and their family. We seek to captivate everyone with the flavor of our land and the heritage we have as chile producers,” said Carolina Peña Grande, International Sales Manager.
+20 ingredients are needed to make mole, including chiles, spices, nuts, seeds, chocolate, and fruits
25 people are part of the community that cultivates, harvests, prepares, and seasons the mole.
2010 is the year that UNESCO declared Mexican cuisine an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. One of the dishes that made this possible was mole.
64 varieties of chile exist in Mexico. However, the number could exceed 200 when considering subspecies and native varieties.
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FOUR FLAVORS
Mole Rancho La California celebrates Mexico’s regional diversity with a product in four flavors with different aromas, tastes, and levels of heat.
It offers them in three formats for both retail and foodservice: 44-pound bucket, 11-pound bucket, and one-pound PET container.
- 1 Poblano (the most traditional)
- 2 Negro (Oaxacan style)
- 3 Mole Verde (pipián style)
- 4 Ranchero (the coloradito)
A Story of Flavor
- 1910: Don León Peña, “King of Chile,” pioneered chile cultivation in northern Guajanuato and commercialized them internationally.
- Legacy: His son, Don Casimiro Peña, expanded the farming lands and founded “Rancho La California.”
- New Generation: Jaime Peña (son of Don Casimiro), his wife Cecilia Grande, and their daughters Cecilia and Carolina transformed the chiles into “Mole Rancho La California.”