Hatch chiles

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What is a Hatch chile?

Saturday, September 8, 2012 in Hatch, New Mexico

A variety of Hatch chiles.

Yesterday I told you a little about the history of Hatch and their famous chiles which seemed to confuse a few people. I talked about how Jim Lytle developed the Big Jim and how his son and grandson created the Lumbria and Legacy chile peppers and a few readers were all, “Wait…but what, exactly, is a Hatch chile?”

There is no chile called Hatch. There’s just a bunch of different long green peppers grown in the Hatch Valley. And even that has become a bit problematic since there are some unscrupulous farmers all over the Southwest and even into Mexico who now grow and market what they call Hatch chiles. (Last year the New Mexico state legislature passed a law making it illegal to sell any chile as New Mexican that wasn’t actually grown there.)

Now this also explains why it is that you can buy Hatch chiles that are mild, medium, hot, or extra hot. They’re all different varieties of Hatch chiles. Here are some of the most popular:

New Mexico 6: This is a very mild, somewhat smallish chile with pods 5-8 inches long.

Big Jim: The granddaddy of Hatch chiles and probably the most famous. They’re medium-hot and generally 7-12 inches long (although Jimmy Lytle has grown some monsters that were 16 inches). If you were looking for a pepper to make chile relleno with, this would be a good pick.

Legacy: This is a newish Hatch chile with thick meat and lots of flavor. It’s somewhere between a New Mexico 6 and Big Jim in heat.

Sandia: True Hatch chile aficionados swear by this baby. It’s hot and spicy with pods 5-9 inches long.

Lumbre: If you’re one of those nuts that just loves the heat in their food, this is what you want. These 4-7 inch peppers are extra hot.

Now there’s also a Hatch chile known as The Ghost Chile that’s even hotter than a Lumbre but it’s a different pepper altogether. They’re similar in size to a habanero but even hotter. At least that’s what people say and I’m going to take their word for it since there’s no way I’m trying one.

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Fiddlers and hoofers at the Hatch Chile Festival

Thursday, September 6, 2012 in Hatch, New Mexico

 

Let me set the scene for you at the Hatch Chile Festival: Last year’s festival queen sits on a folding chair munching a smoked turkey leg while Gib, up on the stage, announces the contestants in the fiddle contest.

A young boy, no more than 12, climbs up on stage and shyly announces he’ll be playing “Cottonpatch Rag.”

His grandfather, wearing a dusty white cowboy hat, stands stoically beside the young red-haired boy, accompanying him on an old guitar. The playing is lively, the beat sturdy and sure. A few cowboys put down their plates of gorditas or sweet tamales to hoof it out on the dance floor with their wives or girlfriends.

Gib thanks the young boy for the tune and admonishes everyone to go visit the food vendors and “Git yourself some of the finest chiles in the world. Ya eat a little Hatch chile tonight and you’ll get up in the morning and be deeply moved.”

The festival crowd, mostly local farmers from up and down the banks of the Rio Grande, moan at the joke.

It’s sweltering beneath the aluminum roof of the open-sided exhibition hall on this Labor Day weekend, but it’s even hotter out on the dusty fairgrounds where dozens of pickups, straining from beds stacked high with 40-lb. sacks of fleshy red, orange, yellow, and green chiles, line up cheek- to-jowl with farmers selling gunny sacks of freshly harvested green chiles which, for a few bucks more, they’ll roast for you in mesh drums spun over butane fires.

I buy a plate of chile rellenos and find an empty chair in front of the stage and listen to the fiddlers, watch the cowboys dance, and admire the beautiful folklorico dancers, in all-white dresses, as they stomp their feet and swirl up a breeze in the sweltering heat here in Hatch, the Chile Capital of the World.

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On the road again: To the Hatch Chile Festival

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 in Hatch, New Mexico

I love transitions in the landscape when I’m driving. Even something as short as the drive from Las Cruces to Hatch can be amazing. It’s only 40 miles but once you get out of Las Cruces, you’re on a two-lane country road that meanders north through the fertile Rincon Valley, lined with dense orchards of pecan trees and, as you get closer and closer to Hatch, row after row of shiny green knee-high plants bowed from the weight of glistening pods of varying sizes and colors: chiles. Hatch chiles.

Saturday morning, as I got nearer and nearer to the little town of Hatch, the pungent, smoky air wafting through the valley let me know it was Hatch Chile Festival time. That and the bright red chile ristras hanging from windows, doorways, and even the roofs of the many little shops selling Hatch chiles and related articles.

I drove straight through town, following the signs to the festival grounds just outside of town. This short video shows you what I’m talking about.

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