The mole pastes found in Oaxacan mercados are so good, I used to bring them back in my suitcase. And so did a lot of other people, judging by this post from Jay Francis last year. In the comments section of that post, Jay talked about a new bottled mole available at Spec's Warehouse store downtown that was just like the stuff from Oaxaca.
I bought a couple of bottles of La Soledad's Mole Oaxaqueño Negro a few days ago. (They also have a mole coloradito.) I used it to make turkey mole for a dinner party with a whole turkey. (This was the 12-pound turkey from that HEB "buy a spiral-cut ham, get a free turkey" promotion that I got suckered by over Thanksgiving.)
This fragrant mole paste is just like the black mole in the mercado in Oaxaca. Unlike Doña Maria and those other jars of cement-hard sauce base, this stuff is soft and pliant. The flavor is sweeter and spicier, with more fruit and chile flavors and fewer nuts (or peanut butter) than other commercial moles.
The turkey mole was fabulous.
