New Mexico Green Chilies

[gfron1]

With harvest starting in just a few weeks (early crop), the news is starting come out about how things will be this year:

Las Cruce Sun-News says a 5% loss.

KRQE says there's a new disease called Curly Top.

We started getting our monsoon rains (some are debating that these aren't the monsoons) daily for the past two weeks. I'm in Silver City which is directly West of Hatch and Northwest of Deming and Las Cruces - the three major growing regions. If we've been getting rain, its a good chance they are. Rains this late are dangerous to the chiles, so its always a mixed blessing up here in the high desert.

Because you're all sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the new crop, I'll keep everyone posted as things emerge

Also, the Hatch Chile Fest is coming up over Labor Day weekend. I'll do a detailed report - if anyone is planning on attending, let me know and we can eGulletize the weekend!

[chezcherie]

i am on the edge of my seat. missed the crop last year, and i am determined to git me some this year!

[docsconz]

I would love to know of a good mail order source.

[gfron1]

Casa de gfron mail order service. Seriously, I don't mind mailing to folks if they need them - they're as available as dirt around here. Its simple to mail the fresh ones since they're hearty. Roasted would be an interesting trick - roast - shove in bag - pack in box - race to FedEx...I bet they would arrive warm Just let me know, but I would wait until September when the good ones start coming out.

[docsconz]

Casa de gfron mail order service.  Seriously, I don't mind mailing to folks if they need them - they're as available as dirt around here.  Its simple to mail the fresh ones since they're hearty.  Roasted would be an interesting trick - roast - shove in bag - pack in box - race to FedEx...I bet they would arrive warm   Just let me know, but I would wait until September when the good ones start coming out.

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Thanks for the offer. New Mexican green chilies are a wonderful ingredient.

[Roxie]

A friend and I are planning on driving over from Austin around September 15th to load up our coolers with fresh roasted green chilis. Think there will be some left after the festival?

[gfron1]

This area feeds the nation when it comes to chile, so there will be plenty. We typically roast through early October, but fresh is available through early December and on.

[Margo]

I would love to know of a good mail order source.

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I like these folks:

Hatch Chile Express

The fresh product will appear once it's available. I believe they sell by the 25# box.

[artisan02]

This area feeds the nation when it comes to chile, so there will be plenty.  We typically roast through early October, but fresh is available through early December and on.

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The roasters are already up in Albuquerque at some of the little produce markets and on the northwest corner of Montgomery and Wyoming. I haven't actually seen chiles being roasted yet, but the roasters are set up and waiting.

Christine

[ludja]

This area feeds the nation when it comes to chile, so there will be plenty.  We typically roast through early October, but fresh is available through early December and on.

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The roasters are already up in Albuquerque at some of the little produce markets and on the northwest corner of Montgomery and Wyoming. I haven't actually seen chiles being roasted yet, but the roasters are set up and waiting.

Christine

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We just picked up some freshly roasted green chile at the Corrales Farmer's Market yesterday. The farmer said they were his first batch of the year. I'm trying to decided what to do with them... I also picked up some fresh Big Jim green chiles and am eyeing various rellenos recipes. I think I want to try a roasted version stuffed with piccadillo.

[gfron1]

They started roasting at our local stores this past weekend. I will wait a bit for mine. A friend served me roasted chiles stuffed with blue cheese on Saturday - wow!

[gfron1]

I was planning on doing a write-up of the Hatch festival (9/1-2), but now I'm going to Tucson. If anyone else was planning on going - I'd love to see pics. Also, this is Hillsboro's last Apple Festival ever, so drive up the hill and make it a weekend.

[gfron1]

Today I had "the feel" that it was time to get the chiles. So down to my local market for a bushel and handed them over to the roaster. For those of you who have never seen this before, its a cage that rotates while eight torches burn the chiles. If you get a good roasterman/woman, they'll know just when to stop - blackened but not burned. The aroma that fills the entire city is a true gift from the heavens. After they stop the roasting, they knock off the danglers and pour the hot chiles into your pillow cover or plastic bags. This steams the chiles until you get home. Then you peel, peel, peel. I pack them in smaller bags or oil for use between now and next September.

I spared a small few for one lucky eG recipient who better greet the UPS driver tomorrow afternoon!

[birder53]

There are several different roasters set up along Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. There are also several roasters at the Farmers Market. This is our first chile season in NM and we've picked up small zip loc bags of still warm peppers at the Farmers Market. Now that we know it has a short life in the fridge, we froze a few. A friend encouraged us to buy a bushel and get them in the freezer. Any suggestions for picking a roaster?

[docsconz]

There is nothing quite like the smell and taste of fresh roasted green chiles. This must be a fabulous time to be living there and enjoying that aroma!

[birder53]

There is nothing quite like the smell and taste of fresh roasted green chiles. This must be a fabulous time to be living there and enjoying that aroma!

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It's wonderful!

[gfron1]

Any suggestions for picking a roaster?

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No answer really. It tends to be the low man on the totem pole who has to sit in the hot sun roasting chiles. I would lean toward morning when they're not in a huge rush to get you out of there and hide back in the shade. The point is to get them roasted enough - nothing worse than peeling un-roasted peppers. But in the end, part of that bushel idea that your friends had accounts for the 10% that are under-roasted.

[mizducky]

Okay--green chile novice here. A friend of mine is currently in Albuquerque for the balloon festival, and called me up to tell me she'd just bought me a big bag full of freshly roasted green chile from a roaster there. Trouble is, she doesn't arrive back in San Diego with them until Thursday. I don't want to saddle her with having to peel all those babies now--heck, she's on vacation. I think she does have access to a fridge/freezer (she's staying with a friend). Would it be adequate to put these chiles in the fridge or freezer until she headed home with them?

[gfron1]

Not ideal, but doable. The problem with the wait, is that all of that steam is going to lead to fairly slimy chiles. If she can freeze (after bringing them to room temp) them that might help. I would also suggest having her switch bags at the end of today so the moisture is taken out.

[mizducky]

Thanks--that does help lots.

Even if the chiles do get a bit slimy, would they still be okay for making into sauce?

[gfron1]

They'll be fine as a sauce just harder to work with - meaning removing the skin.

[mizducky]

Well, my friend has dropped off a big cooler full of chilies, and I've just gotten about a sixth of them peeled. Heh. Luckily the peels are mostly popping off of them pretty easily, because I'd hate to think how long this would be taking if I had to struggle with peeling them. And also luckily the aroma and taste (of course I sampled!) are sufficient motivation to keep me at it.

[gfron1]

I hope there was still some of the aroma left from the roasting. Enjoy!

[birder53]

Well, my friend has dropped off a big cooler full of chilies, and I've just gotten about a sixth of them peeled. Heh. Luckily the peels are mostly popping off of them pretty easily, because I'd hate to think how long this would be taking if I had to struggle with peeling them. And also luckily the aroma and taste (of course I sampled!) are sufficient motivation to keep me at it.

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Have fun! We bought a bushel of roasted chilies last month. Some we chopped and froze. The rest were frozen whole in small bags. This weekend we made our first batch of green chili and today we make the posole stew. Someone told us the chilies get hotter the longer they are frozen. Not quite sure about that, but the batch we used for the green chili certainly had a lot of heat. Let us know what you finally make with your bounty!

[mizducky]

Okay, they're all peeled now, and mostly seeded. Given how many chiles there were, I sort of gave up on getting every single seed off 'em, but at least got the major seed clumps out--the chiles are still plenty hot enough even without them. I tried to keep them as whole as I could manage--the flesh of some of them was kind of falling apart at this point, but the majority stayed in one piece amazingly well.

I now have ten baggies of green stuff in my freezer (easy-to-misinterpret phrasing totally intentional ). There was an 11th baggie, but I used it to make a green chile stew with pork. Whoa! Almost too spicy for my tummy, but it hurts so good!