Editor's Letter: Burn Notice
IT WAS A NEWBIE MISTAKE. Back in March, I’d purchased a few jars of Hatch green chile salsa and mentioned in a meeting that they weren’t as spicy as I expected. “To New Mexicans, it’s not about the…
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Category: Eat & Drink
Essential Recipes: Red and Green Chile Sauce
How to make New Mexican chile sauce from scratch. Photograph by Douglas Merriam. SECRET SPICE BLENDS and special techniques may mark some cooks’ pots of divine goodness, but these two recipes will get…
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Take Your Pick At Big Jim Farms
Above: Chantelle Wagner tends to the family's U-pick chile field. AT A NINE-ACRE FIELD in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, would-be farmers are on the hunt. Big Jim Farms offers the only U-Pick chile…
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Chile Thrives On Native Soil
Above: A Jemez Pueblo family with a chile ristra, ca. 1905. Courtesy of Simeon Schwemberger collection at the Center for Southwest Research, UNM Libraries. LOOKING AT HIS FIELD in early July, Jemez…
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More Than Just Salsa
Illustration by Chris Philpot. CAPSAICIN, THE ALKALOID that makes chiles taste hot, has been a healer since the ancient Inca and Aztec cultures. These days, super-hot chiles are bred specifically for…
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José Gonzalez: The Allure of Chile Farming
Above: José Gonzalez earned the Farmer All Star award from the Santa Fe Farmers' Market's Market Institute in 2015. IN A HUMID, tree-curtained corner of the Española Valley, José Gonzalez walks among…
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The Making of Chile U
BEHIND AN INCONSPICUOUS DOOR in the unremarkable hallway of a standard university building lies a one-room wonder. There, a former classroom bursts with racks of colorful seed packets, shelves of…
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Matt Romero: The Passion of Chile Roasting
IN NEW MEXICO, chile is handed down in recipes and with seeds the same way some families pass along an heirloom watch. Such is the case with Matt Romero, reigning chile roaster at the Santa Fe…
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Nick Maryol: Feeding the Soul
Above: Nick Maryol shares his passion for New Mexican cuisine at Tia Sophia's. Photo: Kate Russell. Nick Maryol started bussing tables at Tia Sophia’s when he was 6. It was as much family obligation…
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First Fruit in Space: New Mexico Chile Pepper
Illustration by Chris Philpot A MISSION TO MARS is still a decade away, but scientists at NASA already plan to stock it with green chile. Why? We could say because it tastes so good, but the answer is…
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