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I recently moved to Santa Fe, and want to purchase some Hatch chiles. Can anyone tell me the best places to get these in Santa Fe? I realize it's not chile season, but I'd like to grab some dried pods to use until the fresh ones come in at the end of summer.
Oh, and I'd prefer somewhere the locals shop (with hopefully cheaper prices), not a tourist shop.
For dried (red) pods, I recommend Chimayo chiles over anything from Hatch. Since Chimayo is just up the road, I would imagine the pods would be available all over town.
The Santa Fe Farmer's Market is worth a look for many local red-chile varieties, and you can certainly find dried New Mexico reds (Chimayo or Hatch) in big supermarkets like Smith's or Albertson's. You could even drive up the road to Chimayo and look for them yourself.
The Lowes grocery store on St Michaels has a wider variety of dried chiles in its produce section than many of the other stores. Not sure if they have Hatch chiles though.
The Lowes grocery store on St Michaels has a wider variety of dried chiles in its produce section than many of the other stores. Not sure if they have Hatch chiles though.
"Hatch chiles" aren't a separate variety, just the place where most of New Mexico's chiles are grown (some of the most common NM varieties include Big Jims and Sandias, but they're all marketed as New Mexico chiles). If they really were grown here rather than someplace like Mexico, China or Peru, most "New Mexico chiles" sold at a place like Lowes will come from the Hatch area.
"Hatch chiles" aren't a separate variety, just the place where most of New Mexico's chiles are grown (some of the most common NM varieties include...
I have always thought of the best variety for chile rellenos as being Anaheims.
Quote:
An Anaheim pepper is a mild variety of the New Mexico chile pepper cultivar No. 9. The name "Anaheim" derives from Emilio Ortega, a farmer who brought the seeds from New Mexico to the Anaheim, California, area in 1894. They are also called California chile or Magdalena, and dried as chile seco del norte. The chile "heat" of Anaheims varies wildly from 500 to 2,500 on the Scoville scale; however, typical cultivars grown in New Mexico can selectively and uniformly range from 500 to 10,000 Scoville units.
I buy my seeds every year at the Santa Fe School of Cooking and plant them here in OK. They are great called NewMex. I also bought a chili pepper roaster so I am practicing so when I can move to your area I'll fit in (just kidding, we love the chilis).
Most of the grocery stores - especially the chains like Albertson's and Smith's will be roasting Hatch chile once the season comes around. The fragrance of roasting chiles can't be beat - makes my mouth water already! Of course you can buy them raw and/or roasted by the pound or sackful as well. I believe there's a state law now that requires New Mexico chiles to be labelled/advertised as such (as opposed to chiles from Mexico or California). Those stores or roadside stands that have the chiles from Hatch display that fact prominently on their signs, so you'll know as you drive past.
Buy a lot and freeze 'em so they'll last you 'til the next season rolls around.
You can also have them sent to you - frozen or pods - from Hatch. I send them to friends who have moved away from New Mexico and for myself/visiting family to take home when not in season. They are great: Hatch Chile Express
Yup. Anaheims are just tamer versions of New Mexico chiles bred for the Californian palate...
I stopped at a popular Albuquerque New Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago that I used to frequent as I had a craving for their chile rellenos which used to be pretty good. Had not been there in years and I was shocked that the chile relleno tasted like a bell pepper - assumed it was an Anaheim. Will not be going back.
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