Sauce: Just the word whets the appetite.

And few are the places where the sauce is as rich, wonderfully complex and painstakingly prepared as the mole of Mexico.

Simply put, it’s a chocolate sauce. But it’s more than that - so exquisitely prepared with different chili peppers, cloves, anise, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, clove, dried fruit, nuts and a varying number of other ingredients.

The sauce - pronounced "moh-leh" - combines ancient indigenous foodstuffs with modern Spaniard influences.

It seems almost a meal in itself. Indeed, the names of dishes are based on the name: mole con pollo, or mole with chicken, for example.

Now, there’s an annual battle brewing in one of America’s biggest Mexican-American communities - Los Angeles - about who makes the best.

It’s called “La Feria de los Moles: Puebla vs. Oaxaca,” or the Fair of the Moles, held Sunday, October 9, in downtown Los Angeles’ birthplace barrio called Olvera Street. The event attracts thousands of visitors.

Many associate mole with one of two Mexican states: Puebla or Oaxaca.

Which place makes the best mole is a dispute that Gabriel Cruz from Oaxaca and Pedro Ramos from Puebla - who both now live in Los Angeles - have been battling since they met.

“We were always talking about it every time we would see each other and it was always a debate,” said Cruz.

“I would tell him Oaxaca has a very nice folklore and uniqueness, but we in Puebla have the best mole,” Ramos said.

Then about four year ago, Cruz suggested he and Ramos have a festival to settle the dispute.

Since then they have held “La Feria de Los Moles” to showcase the delicious Mexican cuisine and tradition.

Susana Cruz, a native of Oaxaca who will be participating in the mole fair, says her recipe has been passed down the generations.

“The mole oaxaqueño is the main dish that has been passed along to my family by our ancestors and we treasure this because it keeps us close to our roots,” she said.

“This dish symbolizes the celebration of a big event and it manifest something important in our lives,” she added. “It brings us closer to our roots and where we come from.”

She says Oaxaca’s mole combines different types of chiles with spices, cinnamon, clove, nuts and other ingredients that give it a unique taste.

On the other hand, Socorro Gomez from Puebla says that her region’s mole is considered among the best because of its spices.

Gomez says everyone has their own mole recipe, passed down from generation to generation. She says because mole takes so much time to prepare, "I usually make a huge batch!”

Gomez said mole can come in one of many shades: green, red, yellow and black - each with a unique flavor.

La Feria de Los Moles gives visitors the opportunity to taste more than 13 different Mexican moles ranging from sweet and savory to hot and spicy, organizers said.