A New Mexico Cultural Experience

 

Did you know that Chile Peppers are New Mexico’s State Vegetable?

Okay, another question:

What's the difference between "Chile" (with an "e"), and "Chili" (with an "i")?

~Answer: If you order chile in New Mexico the immediate response is usually "Red or Green?". Chile as we know it here is a variety of dishes where the major ingredient is either fresh green chile, or a sauce made from rehydrated dry red chile pods. Chili, on the other hand, is more of a stew made with beef, usually beans, spices, tomato sauce, and cheese. I prefer my Chili with chopped Green Chile myself.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, every August through September, the chile harvest begins, and is something akin to a religion here in New Mexico. Most everyone makes plans to pick up their yearly stash of green chile to get them through the winter and into the next summer. At chile harvest season, chiles are plentiful, and in the Albuquerque area, seasonal chile roasting stations pop up everywhere.

Local grocery stores, farmers markets and small roadside stands display the open black wire cages that are turned while a propane flame heats the chiles dumped inside.

Grocery chains such as Smith's, Sunflower Markets, Whole Foods, even Walmart carry the tasty chile pods. Or you can order your chile stash online and have it delivered to your door!

We decided to get our fresh chile by driving a little farther from our home. About 4 years ago, we lived just 10 minutes north of the Village of Corrales and have always enjoyed the drive through this picturesque rural community.

Our destination was Wagner's Farm. This farm has been around since 1910 and has been owned and operated through four generations of the Wagner Family. They operate a Farm Store and sell their own produce that is picked fresh every morning, including their own green chile.

When we arrived we first had to choose the variety of chile we wanted: mild, medium, hot or x-tra hot, and also which size we wanted. They carried 50 lb bags and full bushels.

We chose the Big Jim Medium heat, because I like lots of flavor with a friendly follow-up of heat. We decided to get the full bushel this time, even though the 50 lb bag would probably last us all the way to next year’s chile harvest.

A fresh full bushel of green chile is approx 2o-25lbs. After it’s roasted and peeled the same bushel weighs approx. 15-20lbs. This is because when chile is roasted it loses moisture and weight.

After we picked up our bushel basket, it was time to head outside and wait in the chile roasting line. Thankfully on this day, the line was short, but on the weekends, the line can be quite long with all 9 roasters fired up at once. The chile roasting line can become a festive experience, and it’s fun to chat with others in line while sharing recipes and our fond and sometimes funny memories we all have with chile.

The whooshing sound of propane gas coincides with the snap, crackle and pop of roasting chiles as their skins are burned and shed. A Chile Roaster Man stands by the cage and turns its cylindrical drum, or newer styles do this automatically and are set to a timer.

The smell of roasting chile is unlike any other, and I for one, can never get enough. I've walked up to roasters even when I didn't need any chile, just to get a whiff. Our Chile Roaster Man told us a funny story about a Grandma that stopped by for her roasted chile fix and mentioned that the smell of roasting chile reminds her of marijuana. I think she’s onto something there.

Then it was time to roast our own bushel of chile. Of course I had to take some photos as the chile began it’s journey from raw to roasted.

Mmmmm! I wish I could share with you how good the air smells while the chile is roasting.

After the roasting is complete, the Chile Roaster Man scrapes all the ‘cracklings’ into the trash.

And then he opens the door and lets the chiles spill out.

And then he pushes them all into a plastic bag placed into a plastic tub, and then it’s time to tie the bag…and hand it over to the customer……me!

Ok, well this time Ranchman John got the honors.

But the drive home, all 45 minutes, was absolutely divine! You have not lived until your entire car is saturated by the scent of freshly roasted green chile that is steaming and simmering in it’s own juices! Mmmmm!

By the way, if you love chiles as much as we do, but you don’t live in New Mexico, you can Order your own Fresh Green Chile shipped to your door!

I recommend that you do it now.

Once we arrived home it was time to process the chiles for freezing. Many folks just come home and pop their chiles into ziplock baggies, burnt skin and all. This is the easy way and the roasted skin adds a lot of good smoky flavor to the chiles and the skin will just fall off when the frozen chiles are removed from the freezer.

My personal preference is to rinse and peel my chiles before bagging and freezing because I like taking my chiles out of the freezer and having them already prepared and ready for use. Plus I think they look cleaner and prettier.

Also some folks prefer to chop their chilies before bagging, but I might want to use my chiles whole, like for Chile Rellenos, so I just keep mine whole until I take a bag out of the freezer for cooking.

To prepare chiles it’s a good idea to wear gloves, especially for the hot and x-tra hot varieties, but I like to live dangerously and go gloveless. I just remember to never touch my eyes or lips during the processing because the chile oils can burn painfully. They can also be irritating when breathed. Which is why I chose to process my chiles outside.

 

Another reason was because the weather was gorgeous, in the 70’s with cool breezes and not too buggy. It feels like Autumn is on it’s way. Last night our temps got down to 47F degrees, which made for blissfully cozy sleeping under my down comforter with the windows open. The air is crisp and cool in the morning and the bright yellow sunflowers, harbingers of Fall, line the roads.

Plus Ranchman John was outside mowing the grass and weeds.

And when he’s home I like to hang out with him, even if we’re both occupied with other things……like chiles and mowing.

And my twinling, Jem, and my Dobbie girl joined me outside for some chile love.

Roasted chiles peel easily. The skin slips right off, especially if they’ve been steaming inside the plastic bag for at least a 1/2 hour on the drive home.

I also make sure to have plenty of snack size and quart size baggies on hand, ready to be stuffed full of peeled chiles.

I like to place between 3-5 chile pods in each snack size bag and 5-7 pods inside the quart size bags. Each week, I'll pull a bag out of the freezer for using in recipes throughout the week. Yesterday I processed 30 bags of green chile. That should get us through winter.

Or not…..some chiles don’t make it the freezer.

A green chile laid on a soft, warm tortilla and rolled up with some melted cheese can become a delicious and simple meal.

My twinlings, who are native born New Mexicans, will eat them freshly peeled, out of hand.

My twinling son Jax was happy to pose for some funny photos.

He likes to make crazy faces.

 

He was pretending that the chile was super hot, even though he complained that we should have picked up some hot or x-tra hot varieties.

He tried to make up for it by eating a generous dose of seeds inside his chile peppers. Ouch! I think this was his 4th chile pepper that I watched him eat straight out of hand. (He sipped a glass of milk and munched on bread the entire time. lol!)

 

 

By the way, have you ever wondered why some chiles are green and some are red?

New Mexicans love this question. It's the official state question because we love it so much. When ordering New Mexican dishes at restaurants, you'll be asked if you want red or green chile. Sometimes folks will request ‘Christmas’, which basically means that they would like both red and green on their plate.

So what's the difference between the two?

It just means that the green chile is not as far along in the ripening process as the red chile pod. Also red chile tends to have a milder, smoother, smoky flavor. I like red for cooking enchilada sauces, and carne adovado. And I like green for tossing into various meals throughout the week. One of my favorite ways to eat green chile is chopped up and mixed with cooked ground beef and grilled onions. I either scoop it up with tortilla chips or spoon some onto a fresh warm tortilla….roll it up, and enjoy!

Green chiles have thick flesh that holds up well for stuffing with cheese and their flavor is just amazing! We use our green chiles on hamburgers, breakfast burritos, pizza, soup, stews, casseroles, everything!

So there ya go…….a New Mexico Cultural Experience!