Hatch Chile Season 2016

Looks like we are SOL here in Oregon.

Melissa's is just one of the companies, Young Guns is another. And I just found Los Roast in Portland through a quick Google search:

Los Roast 2016 Roasting Calendar.

Thanks. I have always wanted to try them. Now, how or where do I find recipes.

Jay1924 probably has some good ones. Hatch chile cheeseburgers are always good. During the winter New Mexico green chile stew is always good.

And here's a few links:

http://www.thewickednoodle.com...hatch-chile-recipes/

http://www.shockinglydelicious...-you-need-right-now/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...ecipe_n_2599667.html

https://www.hatch-green-chile....green-chile-recipes/

Here are a couple of my favorites for roasted and peeled green chiles, and not just Hatch - Northern NM and CO chiles like Sandia, Espanola Improved, and Big Jim are great too.

Chiles Rellenos NM style: It is best to start with large whole roasted and peeled chiles. I use fresh and roast and peel them myself because I find that traditional "barrel roasters" tend to break up the chiles too much. Make a small slit near the stem portion and insert slivers of a good melting cheese (I like havarti or cheddar). Push these "spears" as far down inside the pepper as you can. Then use a standard breading (flour, egg/milk wash, then a mix of flour and bread crumbs) to coat, with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit 20 minutes or so to allow the coating to set up, then saute in a half inch or so of corn or canola oil, till brown on both sides. Make the oil hot enough to brown the peppers before the cheese starts to escape.

Squash, corn and chiles: Saute some chopped onion in butter and oil. Chop some summer squash (Mexican grey is my favorite, but yellow will work) add to the onion and saute until just starting to get soft. Then add corn kernels cut from really fresh corn and as much chopped roasted and peeled green chile as you like, and a saute few more minutes to heat. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, and cilantro leaf (fresh if you have it).

I'm with Andy. The availability of fresh green chiles is the highlight of late summer/early fall. It is definitely worth growing your own.

Thanks. I went to the links that AndyJ provided and copied a number of recipes to try. Our local market does not get the Hatch peppers till
Sept 1 but I have it marked on my calendar.

Got my batch of Hatch today. Should hold me over the winter...

Looks great. I googled Hatch Chiles and found something interesting. Seems that the Hatch Chiles are just plain old Anaheim Chiles. Seems that the state of New Mexico needed to pump up the sales of the farmers. So they went on a big advertising campaign and promoted their Anaheim Chiles as something special. Sooo, regular Anaheim chiles are exactly the same thing. I suggest you google Hatch Chiles to satisfy your curiosity. I did and was amazed at the power of advertising. I would be interested in what your research finds. I did find an interesting recipe using Hatch Chiles in a meatloaf which I made. Quite tasty.

Actually these days, "Hatch chiles" just refers to chiles grown in the Hatch Valley of southern NM. They can be of any of a number of varieties, which like most chiles grown in the southwest are related to the Anaheim. Lots of new varieties have been developed, many by the Chile Pepper Institute at NM State University. If you go to a typical supermarket and buy "Anaheims" and compare them to Hatch-grown chiles you will see that the flavor, color, and Scoville ratings (heat) will be much different for the Hatch chiles. The growing conditions: weather, soil, and water, make all the difference, and the Hatch Valley has near-perfect conditions for producing intensely flavored, meaty, hot chiles. It isn't just advertising.

Much like the uniqueness of a Cuban cigar.

While Anaheim & Hatch may be the same type of chile, the taste is quite different. You can buy Hatch seeds and grow your own, but they still won't taste the same, unless of course you live in the Hatch Valley. But if the choice is chile or no chile... Chile always wins!

Sounds the same as Washington Apples, Idaho Potatoes, or Indiana's Mongo Melons.

Tom

I would encourage anyone who is into vegetable gardening to try growing their own green chiles. I have had great success over the past several years with varieties such as Big Jim, Espanola Improved, Sandia Select, Parker, and Numex 6-4. I have grown them successfully in NM and also in NJ. If you get good seeds (I usually get mine from the Chile Pepper Institute, but this summer I actually used plants from Home Depot(!)), and have a little patience, you can turn out a great crop. The flavor and heat will vary depending on your soil, rain/watering frequency, climate, etc., but if you can grow good bell peppers where you live, it should work out fine and you can learn what variations to make to get what you like. When I am back in NM, I always hit the local farmers market for the "real thing," but the home-grown stuff is really good too. Give it a try!