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Hatch Chili Peppers (Merged Topic)


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On July 22, 2016 at 2:45 PM, MelissaH said:

If I'm in Albuquerque the first week in August, what are the chances that this year's chiles will be coming in?

Were you able to buy any?

 

I pulled up the site I always order from a few days ago and found that they weren't selling any!  I've emailed them, but gotten no response.  I went to another site and found that they are only taking pre-orders....

 

Anyone know why?  @gfron1 kept me informed but he felt like he needed to move :P .

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image.jpeg

 

 And should you eat too many or forget to wear gloves while preparing them we have the perfect spot for you to be cared for  right here in Ontario Canada 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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FWIW, it seems like our local roasting dates are running about a week behind.  Also, we have a small chain of grocery stores call the Fresh Market which is also doing hatch chile roasts far from New Mexico this year.  I pre-ordered a 25lb box for $35.  They aren't on Melissa's list so I guess that isn't the only game in town.  I tried to find out if they were associated with another roasting outfit and failed, but I did find this resource for roast locations:  http://www.ihatchchile.com/in/

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16 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I was just searching for local dates and found this 2016 location listing from Melissa's - they're all over the damn place! 

 

Except NC. :( I make do with the little cans from Trader Joe's. Wish I could still find Anaheims here too. Hatch would be my go to for chili rellenos, but I've never had access to fresh. Anaheims make a good substitute, if you can find them.

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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On 8/13/2016 at 10:21 AM, Shelby said:

Were you able to buy any?

We didn't even try. My cousins in Albuquerque had the weekend pretty well planned. We did, however, go to the zoo and the botanical garden, both of which were great hits with 3 1/2 year old Simon (and to some extent, 10-month-old Max). The chiles we ate were on a cheeseburger at Standard Diner (seemed like a decent benchmark, but I like the ones my husband makes at home better!) and at Amore Pizzeria (highly recommend, especially if you have kids along; the pizza in question was the Zia: white sauce, house-made mozz, green chile, corn kernels).

 

From there, we headed towards Mesa Verde for a night, and then up to Ouray to visit my parents. And therein lies the reason we didn't look too hard for chiles: the H side of my family is notoriously wimpy-tongued. My ABQ cousin, whose father is my dad's younger brother, and I talked about this; we believe that in the elder H home, food was more for subsistence than enjoyment, and there was a profound lack of flavor at most meals. My cousin said that when his folks came to visit, and they went to a more typically New Mexican restaurant, about the only thing on the menu that my uncle could tolerate was...cottage cheese. Even the bit of zing in the vinaigrette on the salad was too much for him. Fortunately, those particular genes did not get passed on to the next generation!

 

Anyway, even if we'd found chiles in ABQ, we couldn't have easily kept them good for the two weeks after that until we got home. We had a few days on the Front Range when we did occasionally smell a chile roaster, but even then we decided not to bother. Wegmans is once again having a chilefest at selected stores this year, and we plan to go to one of those and stock up.

 

Time to use the last few of last year's supply from the freezer! I think I want to try my own version of the Zia pizza, which was stupendous.

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MelissaH

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I tell the story all the time of when the eG crew gathered in Vegas a few years ago for a chocolate workshop and we all went to Lotus of Siam for dinner. The 20 or so of us all sat together at one long table. The New Mexico contingency (and a bit of Arizona) was at one end, while the rest of the table was filled with folks from Toronto to California. When it came time to order the shared dishes the Eastern end of the table opted for heat level 1 and 2 (out of 10), while the New Mexico contingency picked 4-6. The other side of the table drank a lot of water, and the New Mexicans felt that it was barely hot. We definitely have skewed heat tolerances. I sure miss my chiles in Missouri. 

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I am hoping someone here can help me decide what to do with some of the hatch chiles I bought.  About 30% of them are kind of leathery, thin-fleshed, and have skin that is very difficult to remove. 

 

Part of the problem might have been the roasting.  I had pre-ordered them and, unfortunately, they were already roasted, sealed and packed into a box from Young Guns Produce when I picked them up.  I could only remove the skin from about half of the ones in the first container because they weren't roasted very well.  There was almost no char at all.  I took them back and the manager explained that they had complaints from people who said they were burned so they are careful not to roast them too much.  I ended up having them roast them all again and that helped a lot, but it was less than ideal. 

 

It also seems like I got 2 different types of peppers:

 

chiles types.jpg

 

The one on the right is a little riper than usual, but generally the ones I expected and the ones that peeled without issue were similar to it - bigger, a lighter shade of green and with meatier flesh.  I'm not sure what to do with the other ones.  I guess I could try to roast them again and see if that makes any difference, although some of them ended up being fairly well charred and the skins still didn't want to come off.  I tried eating some with the skin on and that might be OK (although not ideal).  Any thoughts?

 

FYI, here all all 25 lbs of the peppers:

hatch chiles 2016.jpg

 

The container on the right is 2 quarts (with stems and seeds) so I am guessing there will be around 4 quarts or so in total (~10 lbs of fairly wet peppers).

 

 

 

Edited by rustwood
added total weight (log)
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1 hour ago, rustwood said:

I am hoping someone here can help me decide what to do with some of the hatch chiles I bought.  About 30% of them are kind of leathery, thin-fleshed, and have skin that is very difficult to remove. 

 

Part of the problem might have been the roasting.  I had pre-ordered them and, unfortunately, they were already roasted, sealed and packed into a box from Young Guns Produce when I picked them up.  I could only remove the skin from about half of the ones in the first container because they weren't roasted very well.  There was almost no char at all.  I took them back and the manager explained that they had complaints from people who said they were burned so they are careful not to roast them too much.  I ended up having them roast them all again and that helped a lot, but it was less than ideal. 

 

It also seems like I got 2 different types of peppers:

 

chiles types.jpg

 

The one on the right is a little riper than usual, but generally the ones I expected and the ones that peeled without issue were similar to it - bigger, a lighter shade of green and with meatier flesh.  I'm not sure what to do with the other ones.  I guess I could try to roast them again and see if that makes any difference, although some of them ended up being fairly well charred and the skins still didn't want to come off.  I tried eating some with the skin on and that might be OK (although not ideal).  Any thoughts?

 

FYI, here all all 25 lbs of the peppers:

hatch chiles 2016.jpg

 

The container on the right is 2 quarts (with stems and seeds) so I am guessing there will be around 4 quarts or so in total.

 

 

 

 

They certainly do look like two different types of chiles.  Like you said, the one on the right looks like the ones I've gotten.

 

For the first time I've been using my Cuisinart Steam Oven to remove the skins.  They truly slide right off (mostly).  Do you have a steam oven?  That might help with the ones that you're having trouble with.......

 

Or, if the skins aren't too thick, could you use a blender and make a sauce?

Edited by Shelby (log)
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Good ideas from both larryroohr and Shelby - Thanks!  I do not have a steam oven, but I could try putting them in the steamer for a while - if necessary after I freeze them with the skins on.  I am sure come March or so I will be willing to put in more effort.  For now I can just enjoy the bounty.  I probably will use some the blender too since I have a couple of sauce and dressing recipes I will be blending anyway.

 

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  • 1 year later...

I just bought some and roasted them over lump charcoal. Peeled and diced and added them to a chicken chile verde.

 

Holy smokes this stuff is hot. I can handle heat and they taste great but these are hotter than any batch I've bought before. Finishing up lunch now and my eyes are watering, nose is running, and I'm probably sweating. 

 

Good stuff. 

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That's the thing about opposum inerds, they's just as tasty the next day.

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They are in the local Harris Teeter across from Cary High School now. Mine are very hot too, but don't seem so initially. I chop a couple of jalapenos without gloves regularly. I won't touch a Hatch again without gloves on. Yikes!

 

I added them to a veg curry the other night where they were very good and made a delicious green chili cheeseburger a little later. Yah for Hatch season!

 

I'm thinking of making meat stuffed ones covered with cheese. I think I'll be alright if I deseed and take the membranes out first.

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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2 hours ago, kayb said:

Y'all may have my share of Hatch chiles. Chiles should be red. Green peppers taste...well, green.

 

 

These don't taste at all like green bell peppers, though, and I've been wondering about that.  Are Hatch green chiles just unripe, the way green bell peppers are unripe? The Hatch green chiles have what is to me a pleasant fruity almost-sourness ... is that related to their stage of ripeness, or are the Hatch green chiles truly ripe when we buy them? 

 

Either way, I love the flavor.  I'll take kayb's share. :-)

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14 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

These don't taste at all like green bell peppers, though, and I've been wondering about that.  Are Hatch green chiles just unripe, the way green bell peppers are unripe? The Hatch green chiles have what is to me a pleasant fruity almost-sourness ... is that related to their stage of ripeness, or are the Hatch green chiles truly ripe when we buy them? 

 

Either way, I love the flavor.  I'll take kayb's share. :-)

 

I think this link will answer your question: https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/product-category/fresh-red-chile/

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I used to grow Anaheim chiles.  To my taste they are the closet ones to Hatch.  Picked some at the green stage but they were so much better if left to  ripen to that rich, red shade.  Just like the difference between green bells and red ones.  Now that I buy all my  peppers,  I usually grab poblanos.  Makes me want to plant one next year and let some chilies  vine ripen.  I know ripe ones are dried and become anchos but I want to taste them before they are dried.  Anyone done that?

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I could  be wrong, but I think Hatch chiles really refer to terroir, as in that was originally a designation for a type of hot green chile that was grown in Hatch NM. The area now grows a variety of peppers, including Big Jim, which did not exist in the sixties and early seventies when I lived there. I've had Big Jims, and they seem to be generally a less hot long green chile; batches of Big Jim in the past have often varied greatly pepper to pepper, some being hot, many often not. True Hatch were reliably scorching in my memory. Of course there were plenty of long green chiles grown in the southwest that were less hot than the famous Hatch.

 

It was a rude awakening for me when I moved from NM to CA. There were tasteless Anaheims and mild jalapeños; it was hard to get a really hot green chile pepper. Now there are some vendors at local farmers' markets that sell reasonably hot poblanos. For a while I was missing hot chiles so much that I ordered bushels of Hatch chiles from NM. Eventually the cost of shipping became outrageous, and often I was sent a mix of Big Jims which didn't thrill me.

 

Left on the vine to turn red, most chiles in NM are then dried. The varieties of red peppers that get dried are numerous around the world. I have never seen a dried red pepper labeled specifically as Hatch, although I'm sure it can be done. I don't remember seeing any fresh long red peppers very often when I lived there. Maybe demand is changing that. In the last few years a couple of vendors here have been selling fresh Espelette peppers, which are a long red pepper and quite hot. They have a different flavor entirely, being, I believe, originally from the Basque country. 

 

If you ordered a bowl of red chile in NM you were getting a soup made from dried red chiles, rehydrated into a slurry or a sauce, mixed in some fashion with a meat or chicken broth or water. If you ordered a bowl of green in late summer or early fall you were most likely getting fresh green chiles added to or cooked with the broth. If you ordered it in the winter or spring the green chiles were frozen.As noted by many they freeze quite well, and are typically roasted before freezing. Some people freeze them whole, still unpeeled. I always freeze mine after peeling.

 

Iowa Dee, I just read your latest post. You must be getting some unusual Anaheims, because in my experience a true Hatch and an Anaheim are as different as night and day. As for growing poblanos and leaving them on the vine to ripen to red, I'm sure they would be delicious, especially if they had some heat. 

 

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It very possible that the Hatch chilies I've had are not the real thing.  They are all from an Iowa based grocery chain.  By the time they get here, they are a bit wilted and flaccid.....that sounds like an ad for Viagra doesn't it?  I've seen poblano plants for sale and a large garden center so next year I shall experiment with a couple of them

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