New Mexico
Dried red pods taste slightly acidic and earthy, according to America's Test Kitchen.
500 to 2,500 SHU, per Fiery Foods (DeWitt); Univ. of Arizona Extension agrees. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.
The long green chile of New Mexico turns red in the fall, and the same pod is eaten either way. Green is roasted and peeled. Red is dried for ristras, sauce, and powder. Most of the modern varieties came out of New Mexico State University.
Chiles reached New Mexico with Spanish expeditions in the late 1500s, and one long green type that turned red in the fall took especially well to the place. Northern land races such as Chimayó and Española are still grown in the same fields. California growers later called the type Anaheim. Fabián García of what became NMSU released New Mexico No. 9 (1913 by NMSU's dating; other accounts give 1917 or 1921), the first variety bred for a dependable pod size and heat. New Mexico No. 6-4 followed in 1957 and became the industry standard.
Green and red are two stages of one fruit, as NMSU's Paul Bosland puts it. Green pods are roasted, peeled, and frozen or canned. Red pods are strung into ristras, dried, and ground into the red chile powder that New Mexico cooks use for sauce.
Hatch, in southern New Mexico, has become a brand for this chile, but DeWitt points out that Hatch is a town, not a variety. Most chiles grown there are NuMex 6-4 or Barker, and far more is sold as Hatch than Hatch could grow.
Sources
- Pepper Profile: New Mexican Varieties (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Capsicums: Innovative Uses of an Ancient Crop (Paul W. Bosland, Progress in New Crops, ASHS Press, 1996; Purdue NewCROP)
- Growing Chile Peppers in New Mexico Gardens, Guide H-240 (Walker and Bosland, NMSU Cooperative Extension, 2019)
- The Myth of Hatch Chiles (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Green Chile Stew, adapted from The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia (Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Heat Scale Updated (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Backyard Gardener #174: Growing Peppers and Chiles (Jeff Schalau, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, 2024)
- All About Common Dried Chiles (America's Test Kitchen)
- The Chili con Carne Project, Part 2: Chili Conquers the USA (Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)