New Mexico, or Hatch Chile

There’s many different peppers out there but few inspire as much devotion as the New Mexico, or Hatch Chile. This large green pepper has been described as having a sweet, spicy, and smoky flavor while clocking in at a respectable 0-100k SHUs. Unsurprisingly, this pepper is primarily grown in and around the Hatch Valley in Southern New Mexico. This pepper has a long history of being grown in the region first by the Pueblos and then by Spanish, Mexican, and American Frontiersmen. This tradition is so strong due to the unique terroir of the region that lends to perfect growing conditions for the Hatch Chile - the arid climate of Southern New Mexico. In fact, the residents of this valley are so proud of the quality of their chiles that the state legislature has passed a law that prevents the use of the name, “Hatch”, in branding unless it has specifically been grown in the valley, otherwise it is simply a New Mexico Chile.

What makes the Hatch Chile particularly interesting is that it because it isn’t grown anywhere else you can’t find fresh chiles year-round. You can’t just buy Hatch Chiles from the Southern Hemisphere in the winter. The harvesting season happens in August, which kicks off Autumn in New Mexico. You’ll see fairs where a central theme is the roasting of the Hatch Chile, which happens in huge open face steel drums. These steel drums are rotated over an open fire and then traditionally skinned by the family or group that is roasting the peppers.

So not only does Autumn bring the smell of roasting Hatch Chiles but also the ability to see how Southern New Mexicans kick-off the Fall Harvest festival season. The most prominent of all these festivals is the Hatch Chile Fest, http://www.hatchchilefest.com/. This will bring in over 30k people over two days to see what pepper harvesting and roasting are all about, plus some great food, music, and events.

Besides all the interesting cultural pieces that come with the Hatch Chili, it stands on its own as a delicious pepper. That sweet, spicy, and smoky profile lends itself to traditional Mexican dishes, salsas, and hot sauces but also commonly as a topping for things like cheese burgers and fries.

Thai Chili

The Thai Chili, or Bird’s Eye Chili, is a small spicy pepper that you can commonly found at grocery stores and Asian specialty stores. Even though it can commonly be found at these Asian specialty grocers the origins of the Bird’s Eye can be traced back to Mexico and Central America, as most all chilis can.

The Portuguese and Spanish colonists who came to the Mexico and Central American region were responsible for taking these peppers and spreading them the world over - a piece of the infamous Columbian Exchange. Around the 16th or 17th century the Bird’s Eye would finds its way to Southeast Asia and become entrenched in the local cuisine.

This pepper may be small and unassuming but it packs some heat. It clocks in at a range of 50,000 - 100,000 units on the Scoville Scale, or to put it in laymen’t terms it is in-between the spiciness of a jalapeno and a habanero. If you’re looking to buy some Bird’s Eye know that the redder the chili, the riper it is. They will ripen from a light green to a rich red.

If you want to experience this history in your cuisine today try out your local Thai or Vietnamese restaurant or, better yet, buy your own Bird’s Eye chilis and make a Thai, Vietnamese, etc. dish.

Habaneros

Usually when you’re strolling through the produce aisle in your local grocery store you’ll see some bulbous neon-orange shapes near the peppers section. Well… these are habanero peppers. These peppers are some of the more popular peppers that you’ll find at a grocery store, for good reason. Habaneros are spicy but they also have a distinct floral aroma which makes them a great accompaniment to fish, chicken, sauces, etc. You may buy these at your grocery store but do you know their history?

Well this chili actually finds its origins in the Amazon, in-fact there have been archeological findings of habaneros in the Highlands of Peru dating back to 6500 B.C. Eventually it’s popularity spread and it developed a strong following in Mexico. Even given it’s Amazonian and Mexican background, “Habanero”, actually refers to, “La Habana”, or the Cuban city of Havana.

Today you can find the majority of the world’s habanero production coming from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with other production centers coming from Latin America and certain parts of the U.S (Texas, Idaho, and California).

If you give this pepper a try and enjoy it make sure to also try out the Scotch Bonnet pepper. The Scotch Bonnet is closely related to the habanero with a similar flavor and heat profile.

Fun-fact: Up until 1999 the Habanero was considered the world’s hottest pepper on the Scoville scale. It has since been displaced by others like the Scorpion and Ghost peppers.

Food’s Role in Empathy

In writing this, I hope to highlight a greater truth related to food experiences, and explicate the chili pepper’s role in tying them together. Americans like to think that we are the most culturally and ethnically diverse, we’re not. Why do so many, though, tout a diversity ranking that oftentimes equates to a badge of honor? Ambition to be the most diverse country? Misinformation? Perhaps there are several. I believe the disconnection lies in a seemingly more simple concept, not knowing what your neighbor eats. James Beard said food is our common ground, a universal experience.

I’ll pose more questions. Do you think the old white man in Casper, WY learns more about the young black woman in Jackson, MS, and vice versa, by listening to respective local news soundbites or understanding what each meal the other ate for a given day? How about reading a bipartisan media article on race in America or know how much each spent on groceries for the month? Which do you think has a greater impact on understanding someone from a starkly different background, spice cabinet lineup or which social apps they have downloaded on their phones?  We are playing hide-and-seek with one another’s culture through an opaque, translucent at best, filter on each other’s lives dictated by unshared experiences. For anyone culture-curious, start with the proverbial breaking of bread --- there is no other more raw experience that every human goes through to different degrees than planning, picking, buying, executing each mouthful of food for themselves, and sometimes others.

The supper table matters. There is a who, what, when, where, why, and how happening every single day around this symbol of cohesiveness and understanding, in millions of homes. Chili peppers uniquely touch each element, no matter which one you choose among tens of thousands. There is a small town in southern middle Tennessee near where I grew up, borderline podunk, where the Laos and Thai population grows strong the past two decades. The sole proprietor of Thai Phooket would serve my dad 1:1, heralding an Itamae relationship. The sweat dripping down my dad’s face as he polishes off a bowl of spiced pho, always accompanied with a smile, eventually led to a tour out back showcasing the restaurant-featured chili peppers. My dad, Uncle Skippy, first grew his own thai birdseye chili peppers fifteen years ago, from the same seed, in a small garden outside our home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They ripened, green, yellow, to bright orange, picking them before they turned red. He and my mom then invented what we today call chili dressing. If I’m not eating our chili dressing with a meal I’m supplementing said meal with a side pepper that stems from fifteen years ago at Phooket.

What other food can recall these memories with distinction? There is so much emotion involved when sharing a visceral food experience e.g. weddings, birthdays, graduations; but, these Hallmark moments are intentionally designed with food only serving as the backdrop or an accoutrement. Peppers involuntary coerce a similarly shared experience: new and old relationships shine, timelines matter, tears shed, and the meal becomes the protagonist because one can not separate the spice from the food.

Why We Do It

Side Pepper strives to break down cultural barriers. We empower ourselves and other to do this through active education and unique food experiences. By getting out of your comfort zone, you are able to see things differently and think about them critically.

Jalapeños

Most people are familiar with this pepper and have seen in on their favorite restaurant’s menu or around the local grocery store. But how much do you really know?

The jalapeño originated in Mexico and in actually named after the capital city of Veracruz, Xalapa (or Jalapa). “Jalapeño” in Spanish means “from Xalapa” and gives homage to the location where the pepper was traditionally farmed and grown.

Most jalapeños you encounter in the United States are about 2-4 inches in length and a bright green coloring. These peppers can actually turn red, orange, or yellow if you let them continue maturing and don’t pick them when they are green however!

A common misconception is that this is a “hot” pepper. As described in our post about the Scoville scale, we saw how jalapeños top out around 8,000 units and yet the hottest peppers in the world check in at over 1,000,000 units!

The Scoville Scale

The Scoville Scale provides us with a way to compare all our lovely peppers. From jalapeño to serrano and ghost to carolina reaper, the scoville scale takes them all and gives us a number (called Scoville Heat Units or SHU) by which we can compare how spicy these peppers are. The scale ranges from a few thousand to a few million and tells us about the concentration of capsaicinoids in each pepper. This scale was named after is founder, Wilbur Scoville, who is the brain behind the Scoville organoleptic test that dissolves dried pepper in alcohol and then dilutes it in sugar water to give us insight into the capsaicin in each pepper.