A Pantry Built Around Chile
JOHN “CAJOHN” HARD likes to call Zia Chile Traders a reincarnation—but it’s really the latest chapter in a lifetime devoted to chile. “Our very first food show was the Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, in…
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Category: Chile
Appetite for Love
WITH A TASTEFUL NAUTICAL THEME and an intimate dining space, Lure Raw Bar, in Albuquerque, feels more San Francisco than the Sandías, although you can see the mountains beautifully from the rear…
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Los Roast Brings the Heat
WHEN SANTA FE NATIVE Marshall Berg uprooted himself to Portland, Oregon, in 2008 for college, he missed New Mexico chile. So he purchased chile from a New Mexico packer and started roasting outside…
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The Wide and Wonderful World of Green Chile
NOTHING SPICES UP LIFE IN THE Land of Enchantment like New Mexico green chile, a treasured and storied part of our agricultural heritage for centuries. Fragrant and fleshy, smoky and sweet, earthy and…
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Let Gilly Loco Spice Up Your Life
“WHEN YOU THINK OF PEOPLE getting together, you think of food,” says Laura Lopez. “In our family, that means chips, salsa, and margaritas.” In 2011, that spirit of togetherness led Lopez and her…
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Green Chiles Roasting on an Open Fire
AS POLITICS GO, it was a weighty issue. About 53,000 tons, if you’re counting. That’s the amount of chile harvested in New Mexico in 2022, and the root of state Senate Bill 188, which proposed adding…
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Hot Little Kiss
BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD AND BRIMMING WITH NUTRIENTS, blackberries become downright seductive in Besito Caliente, a zesty gourmet sauce that pairs well with just about anything. This “hot little kiss,” as…
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Haunted Heat
Holy Jolokia products are available at the Chile Pepper Institute. Photograph by Douglas Merriam. NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY’S Chile Pepper Institute helped spread the love for India’s bhut jolokia…
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Fruits of Labor
The harvest pours forth in southern New Mexico. IN THE YEAR 2020, chile, which ripens in waves, still requires picking by hand. Migrant labor is crucial, making issues of immigration and COVID-19…
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Swooning Over Salsa
Albuquerque-based Jillipepper offers a variety of chile-based salsas and dry rubs. Photograph by Douglas Merriam. Step into the salsa aisle of almost any New Mexico grocery store and the array of…
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