Mole Hot Sauce

Oaxacan mole, in a bottle.

An Oaxacan-style hot sauce built on four dried-toasted chiles, traditional Mexican chocolate, hoja santa, and two koji-fermented misos from Shared Cultures in San Francisco.

Mole negro is one of Oaxaca's seven traditional moles and the most complex of them. This is a hot sauce in that tradition. Four dried chiles get dry-toasted on a hot pan: Pasilla, Ancho, Guajillo, Árbol. Peanuts, walnuts, almonds, sesame, and pumpkin seeds fry in oil. Tomatoes, sweet onion, garlic, black garlic, and plantain build the body. Traditional Mexican chocolate, the round-disc kind your abuela buys, melts into the base. Piloncillo and raisins handle the sweetness. Hoja santa, the Mexican aromatic leaf you almost never find in a US-bottled mole, brings anise and eucalyptus.

The umami comes from two misos by Shared Cultures, the small-batch maker in Potrero Hill, San Francisco. One is a Cocoa Nib Miso. One is a Tomato Miso. Both are koji-fermented with Rancho Gordo lima beans and Koda Farms Kokuho Rose rice. They do the work that hours of slow simmering would otherwise do.

The pour is deep mahogany-black, denser than most hot sauces, closer to a thinned mole paste. The aroma opens with leather, dark chocolate, and deep toast. The first bite is sweet-bitter dark chocolate dusted with toasted chile. The middle is a slow chile build over miso umami. The finish smolders like a campfire on its way out.

How to use it

Drizzle it over roasted sweet potatoes. The orange and black on the plate is gorgeous, and the chile-chocolate base finds the sweetness in the potato in a way nothing else will. It belongs on rice bowls, grilled meats, roasted chicken, tacos, eggs, black beans, mac and cheese.

Mole also crosses the bar. Henry's Bar in Barcelona uses it as the bittering component in a mezcal negroni, in place of Campari. Savory, mature, slow-aged cocktail energy.

A drizzle, a stir-in, or a spoon at the table. Mole's flavor is so dense that a teaspoon does the work of a tablespoon of most hot sauces.

Pairs naturally with:

• Roasted sweet potatoes and squash
• Grilled steak, lamb, or pork
• Roasted or grilled chicken
• Carnitas, al pastor, barbacoa tacos
• Huevos rancheros and chilaquiles
• Black beans and refried beans
• Tamales and quesadillas
• Mezcal cocktails
• Mac and cheese with aged cheddar or smoked gouda

What makes it different

• Two house-fermented misos from Shared Cultures. Cocoa Nib and Tomato. No commodity mole has this.
• Built slowly, the traditional way. Every chile dry-toasted, every nut and seed fried, every layer added one at a time.
• Hoja santa. The Mexican aromatic leaf almost no US-bottled mole includes.
• Mexican chocolate, piloncillo, and raisins as the sweeteners. No corn syrup, no commodity mole paste.

Heat, savory, acid

• Heat: 3 / 10. The lowest-heat sauce in the ONIMA lineup. Flavor first, heat structural.
• Savory: 6 / 10. The deepest savory in the lineup.
• Acid: 2 / 10. The lowest-acid in the lineup. Mole is built to stand on depth, not tang.

Ingredients

Water, Tomatoes, Sweet Onion, Plantains, Apple Cider Vinegar, Mexican Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Paste, Soy Lecithin, Cinnamon), Pasilla Pepper, Ancho Pepper, Olive Oil, Piloncillo, Garlic, Guajillo Peppers, Peanuts, Walnuts, Raisins, Árbol Peppers, Cocoa Nib Miso (Rancho Gordo Large White Lima Beans, Organic Kokuho Rose Rice, Cocoa Nibs, Sea Salt, Water, Koji Culture), Tomato Miso (Rancho Gordo Large White Lima Beans, Organic Kokuho Rose Rice, San Marzano Tomatoes, Sea Salt, Water, Koji Culture), Black Garlic, Almonds, Sesame Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Cinnamon, Salt, Black Pepper, Oregano, Hoja Santa, Allspice, Citric Acid, Cumin, Cloves.

Contains: almond, walnut, peanut, soy, sesame.

Specs

• 5 fl oz (148 ml) glass woozy bottle
• Vegan
• Shelf life: 2 years unopened. Refrigerate after opening, use within 6 months for peak flavor.
• Made by hand in San Diego, California

FAQ

What is Mole?
An Oaxacan-style hot sauce built with four dried-toasted chiles (Pasilla, Ancho, Guajillo, Árbol), traditional Mexican chocolate, hoja santa, piloncillo, and two koji-fermented misos from Shared Cultures in San Francisco. 3 out of 10 heat. The most ingredient-dense sauce in the ONIMA lineup.

What does Mole taste like?
Like opening a complex spirit. Leather, dark chocolate, deep toast, roasty nuts. Mid-build chile heat. A smoky, fruity finish like a campfire's last embers.

Is Mole spicy?
Mild. 3 out of 10. The lowest-heat sauce in the ONIMA lineup. Mole is built on depth, not heat.

What's the difference between Mole and traditional mole paste?
Traditional mole paste is a thick, jarred reduction meant to be thinned with stock for a sauce. Mole is a bottled hot sauce, pourable and shelf-stable, that captures the same techniques (toast, fry, layer) and ingredients (dried chiles, nuts, chocolate, hoja santa) in a 5-ounce format. Use it as a drizzle, marinade, or finishing sauce.

What's hoja santa?
A Mexican aromatic leaf with anise, eucalyptus, and black pepper notes. Used in traditional Oaxacan cooking. Almost no US-bottled mole includes it. Mole does.

What's Shared Cultures?
A small-batch koji fermentation maker in Potrero Hill, San Francisco, known for misos made with Rancho Gordo heirloom beans and Koda Farms organic rice. Mole uses two of their misos: Cocoa Nib Miso and Tomato Miso.

Is Mole vegan?
Yes.

Is Mole gluten-free?
Likely yes. None of the listed ingredients contain wheat. We're confirming with our co-packer before making it an official claim.

Does Mole contain allergens?
Yes. Mole contains almond, walnut, peanut, soy (from the Mexican chocolate and miso), and sesame. The most allergens of any ONIMA sauce. Not safe for nut allergies.

What do you put Mole on?
Roasted sweet potatoes, grilled meats, rice, tacos, chicken, eggs, black beans, mac and cheese, mezcal cocktails.

Where is Mole made?
San Diego, California.