Well, thisd homesick New mexican was in need of a green chile fix, and
I couldn't afford to get my chiles roasted and frozen, then shipped in
dry ice like i did last year It was suggested to me that I culd get
fresh ones and roast them myself to save weight, thus shipping cost,
and so I attempted this option.

Got a friend to send me a bushel of hots from my favorite farm stand.
Apparently, he misunderstood my directions and sent them via ground
instead of 2-day, thus resulting in a 10-day trip for my poor chiles.
When they arrived, about 1/3 of the box was moldy. probably were
exposed to moisture/heat in the UPS truck.

So, I sorted out the moldy ones, rinsed off the others, and began
separating my precious green chiles from the ones that had ripened and
turned red in transit. That eliminated about another 1/4 or so. I'm
attempting to dry those by stringing them into ristras and hanging them
in the sunny kitchen window.

Now onto the greens. I roasted them over my BBQ grill, which is pretty
close to usnig a propane chile roaster. The flavor came out perfectly,
just the way I like them. I knew to put them in a trash bag and 'sweat'
them before putting them into smaller ziplcs for freezing. I noticed,
however, that many of them were really puny compared to what i've
always gotten in NM. Very few of these chiles were big enough to make
rellenos. Maybe the size of my finger was the average length; generally
they are 6 - 8 inches at least.

Somehow, getting 22.5 lbs of fresh chiles shipped via UPS ground also
managed to cost about $10 MORE than having 20 lbs frozen and shipped
overnight in 10 lbs of dry ice. So i paid more and worked harder for
less chile this year.

A bummer....salvaged only by the wonderful smell of the green chile
enchiladas cooking in my oven right now.

Not sure if I should be sad or happy to have at least one pan of $50
enchildas here......

On 25 Sep 2005 17:28:28 -0700, Jude wrote:
>
> Somehow, getting 22.5 lbs of fresh chiles shipped via UPS ground also
> managed to cost about $10 MORE than having 20 lbs frozen and shipped
> overnight in 10 lbs of dry ice. So i paid more and worked harder for
> less chile this year.
>
and now you know.....

> A bummer....salvaged only by the wonderful smell of the green chile
> enchiladas cooking in my oven right now.
>
Every cloud has a silver lining.

> Not sure if I should be sad or happy to have at least one pan of $50
> enchildas here......

Ouch!

Jude wrote:
>
> Well, thisd homesick New mexican was in need of a green chile fix, and
> I couldn't afford to get my chiles roasted and frozen, then shipped in
> dry ice like i did last year It was suggested to me that I culd get
> fresh ones and roast them myself to save weight, thus shipping cost,
> and so I attempted this option.
>
> Got a friend to send me a bushel of hots from my favorite farm stand.
> Apparently, he misunderstood my directions and sent them via ground
> instead of 2-day, thus resulting in a 10-day trip for my poor chiles.
> When they arrived, about 1/3 of the box was moldy. probably were
> exposed to moisture/heat in the UPS truck.
>
<snip>

Poor thing. Could have asked me to ship them to you from NM; we do it
all the time. Your friend probably forgot to punch holes in the box. Our
local post office will always remind customers to ventilate the box!
Have never had the trip take 10 days anywhere in mainland US.

Yeah, the 10 days was kind of ridiculous......there were no holes in
the box other than the 2 handle openings. what it looked like was there
were maybe some leaves in the box that got moldy and then becasue of
prolonged surface contact, they caused the chiles to mold. i've never
seen a modly fresh chile before, actually......but i bet the UPS truck
was hot!

any ideas about what to do with the ones that turned red in the box? I
tried stringing them up for a ristra, but i think i'm in too humid of a
climate to get them to dry rather than mold. i tried to oven-dry some
last night but they're still soft, not dry/hard enough.

i got so spoiled at home, just show up and have them roast your sack of
hots, then carry the trash bag home and ziploc em.

I'll get in touch with you if I'm looking for more greens.....where are
you? anywhere close to hatch? (mine came from sichler farms in los
lunas, which is where i always bought my sack when i lived in albq.)

"Jude" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Well, thisd homesick New mexican was in need of a green chile fix, and
> I couldn't afford to get my chiles roasted and frozen, then shipped in
> dry ice like i did last year It was suggested to me that I culd get
> fresh ones and roast them myself to save weight, thus shipping cost,
> and so I attempted this option.
>
> Got a friend to send me a bushel of hots from my favorite farm stand.
> Apparently, he misunderstood my directions and sent them via ground
> instead of 2-day, thus resulting in a 10-day trip for my poor chiles.
> When they arrived, about 1/3 of the box was moldy. probably were
> exposed to moisture/heat in the UPS truck.

I got ya beat. My In-laws delivered this year! 2 big potato-sack bags from
Hatch.

*snip*

> Now onto the greens. I roasted them over my BBQ grill, which is pretty
> close to usnig a propane chile roaster. The flavor came out perfectly,
> just the way I like them. I knew to put them in a trash bag and 'sweat'
> them before putting them into smaller ziplcs for freezing. I noticed,
> however, that many of them were really puny compared to what i've
> always gotten in NM. Very few of these chiles were big enough to make
> rellenos. Maybe the size of my finger was the average length; generally
> they are 6 - 8 inches at least.

We did the same with the grill. Also, I noticed the same thing about
different sizes. My MIL has us put the roasted ones in a 5 gallon bucket
covered with a wet dish towel to sweat them. The ladies then do the dirty
work of peeling them before bagging them. I can't even guess at the weights
before/after grilling but I've got a lot of zip-locks with 3, 1/4 cups in
them in the deep freeze.

>
> Somehow, getting 22.5 lbs of fresh chiles shipped via UPS ground also
> managed to cost about $10 MORE than having 20 lbs frozen and shipped
> overnight in 10 lbs of dry ice. So i paid more and worked harder for
> less chile this year.

> A bummer....salvaged only by the wonderful smell of the green chile
> enchiladas cooking in my oven right now.

I'm married into the NM culture. My Irish/Polish blood has problems if the
chile is too hot. I swear to God I've lost layers of enamel off my teeth
from some of the stuff we have!

> Not sure if I should be sad or happy to have at least one pan of $50
> enchildas here......

I'm happy. Cost was free this year. Normally, we go zip down to NM the
beginning of September to do the roasting/peeling.

Enjoy your enchiladas! We certainly did! ;-)

Bret



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In article .com>,
"Jude" > wrote:

> Yeah, the 10 days was kind of ridiculous......there were no holes in
> the box other than the 2 handle openings. what it looked like was there
> were maybe some leaves in the box that got moldy and then becasue of
> prolonged surface contact, they caused the chiles to mold. i've never
> seen a modly fresh chile before, actually......but i bet the UPS truck
> was hot!
>
> any ideas about what to do with the ones that turned red in the box? I
> tried stringing them up for a ristra, but i think i'm in too humid of a
> climate to get them to dry rather than mold. i tried to oven-dry some
> last night but they're still soft, not dry/hard enough.
>
> i got so spoiled at home, just show up and have them roast your sack of
> hots, then carry the trash bag home and ziploc em.
>
> I'll get in touch with you if I'm looking for more greens.....where are
> you? anywhere close to hatch? (mine came from sichler farms in los
> lunas, which is where i always bought my sack when i lived in albq.)

We're in northern California and the Nob Hill chain of grocery stores is
carrying fresh green chile from New Mexico this year. It's been .79 a
pound here.

Mom bought 40 something pounds of mild (which is what the store stocks)
but she got the produce manager to order a box (about 32 pounds) of hot
for her. It only took two days to get to the store.

Where are you?

marcella

>
> any ideas about what to do with the ones that turned red in the box? I
> tried stringing them up for a ristra, but i think i'm in too humid of a
> climate to get them to dry rather than mold. i tried to oven-dry some
> last night but they're still soft, not dry/hard enough.


They can be oven dried. Use your oven on the lowest setting possilbe. Use
the convection feature if it is available. It is better to cut them in
half for this (or at least split them in half to expose the inside).

It may take 24 - 48 hours to dry them, but if you don't like
leaving your oven on, you can leave them there without heat until you are
ready to start again.

Peppers that have just turned red and are not soft can be roasted and peeled
along side the green ones.

Jude wrote:
>
> Yeah, the 10 days was kind of ridiculous......there were no holes in
> the box other than the 2 handle openings. what it looked like was there
> were maybe some leaves in the box that got moldy and then becasue of
> prolonged surface contact, they caused the chiles to mold. i've never
> seen a modly fresh chile before, actually......but i bet the UPS truck
> was hot!

Need several small holes punched in the box. I hand select the chiles,
dry them (but not wash them), remove any leaves etc. Then they are
layered in the box with newspaper between layers. So far no disasters!
The truck probably was hot inside
>
> any ideas about what to do with the ones that turned red in the box? I
> tried stringing them up for a ristra, but i think i'm in too humid of a
> climate to get them to dry rather than mold. i tried to oven-dry some
> last night but they're still soft, not dry/hard enough.

Dry them overnight or over a couple of nights. Used to do that in London
with the chiles I sneaked into the UK LOL. Worked fine. Otherwise roast
and peel them too. Still taste good!
>
> i got so spoiled at home, just show up and have them roast your sack of
> hots, then carry the trash bag home and ziploc em.

Ah well.... There has been a mild 'scandal' recently. Some of the 30 lb
sacks of chiles didn't weigh as much as 30 lbs! That should be a hanging
offence around here.
>
> I'll get in touch with you if I'm looking for more greens.....where are
> you? anywhere close to hatch? (mine came from sichler farms in los
> lunas, which is where i always bought my sack when i lived in albq.)

No, in ABQ. Most of the supermarkets sell the sacks direct from Hatch
anyway. Almost too late now anyway. What's in the shops are not the best
quality any more. Your friend didn't choose well.

Arri London wrote:
> Jude wrote:

> > i got so spoiled at home, just show up and have them roast your sack of
> > hots, then carry the trash bag home and ziploc em.
>
> Ah well.... There has been a mild 'scandal' recently. Some of the 30 lb
> sacks of chiles didn't weigh as much as 30 lbs! That should be a hanging
> offence around here.
> >
> > I'll get in touch with you if I'm looking for more greens.....where are
> > you? anywhere close to hatch? (mine came from sichler farms in los
> > lunas, which is where i always bought my sack when i lived in albq.)
>
> No, in ABQ. Most of the supermarkets sell the sacks direct from Hatch
> anyway. Almost too late now anyway. What's in the shops are not the best
> quality any more. Your friend didn't choose well.

30 lb sacks? who busy a 30-lb sack? when i was there, it was always to
40 lb sack! damn inflation!

i used to go places that dumped them in the scale righ tin front of you
before they hit the roaster. but apparently they aren't as good at
sichler farms any more. it's a farm stand on san mateo where i always
went, unless i wanted to drive out to wegners in corrales. i know you
could get it at the grocery (i miss bueno...never expected to say that!
frozen, chopped, roasted, ready to use!) but for me it was a fall
pilgrimage.

i used to live close t the frontier. they made the whole neighborhood
smell like roasting chile the whole entire fall. itwas wonderful. at
least my home rosating got me a good sniff!

oh, i gt so homesick for albuquerque. its such an awesome place. and i
bet this weekend is balloon fiesta. damn. i miss it.

go to garcias for me, and have a plate of blue corn flat cheese
enchiladas with extra green, and pepitas instead of rice! thats
something you sure can't do in virginia. (sigh)

thanks for the nostalgia trip!
=)jude

Jude wrote:
>
> Arri London wrote:
> > Jude wrote:
>
> > > i got so spoiled at home, just show up and have them roast your sack of
> > > hots, then carry the trash bag home and ziploc em.
> >
> > Ah well.... There has been a mild 'scandal' recently. Some of the 30 lb
> > sacks of chiles didn't weigh as much as 30 lbs! That should be a hanging
> > offence around here.
> > >
> > > I'll get in touch with you if I'm looking for more greens.....where are
> > > you? anywhere close to hatch? (mine came from sichler farms in los
> > > lunas, which is where i always bought my sack when i lived in albq.)
> >
> > No, in ABQ. Most of the supermarkets sell the sacks direct from Hatch
> > anyway. Almost too late now anyway. What's in the shops are not the best
> > quality any more. Your friend didn't choose well.
>
> 30 lb sacks? who busy a 30-lb sack? when i was there, it was always to
> 40 lb sack! damn inflation!

Oh for the good old days LOL

>
> i used to go places that dumped them in the scale righ tin front of you
> before they hit the roaster. but apparently they aren't as good at
> sichler farms any more. it's a farm stand on san mateo where i always
> went, unless i wanted to drive out to wegners in corrales. i know you
> could get it at the grocery (i miss bueno...never expected to say that!
> frozen, chopped, roasted, ready to use!) but for me it was a fall
> pilgrimage.

Didn't seem to be as many farm stands this year.
>
> i used to live close t the frontier. they made the whole neighborhood
> smell like roasting chile the whole entire fall. itwas wonderful. at
> least my home rosating got me a good sniff!

LOL yes. Apparently we were the only ones in the neighbourhood to roast
any (on the gas grill).
>
> oh, i gt so homesick for albuquerque. its such an awesome place. and i
> bet this weekend is balloon fiesta. damn. i miss it.

It's been raining here for over 24 hours. Field is very wet...Fiesta
will go on though.

> go to garcias for me, and have a plate of blue corn flat cheese
> enchiladas with extra green, and pepitas instead of rice! thats
> something you sure can't do in virginia. (sigh)

Haven't been to Garcia's in ages. Last time it was for breakfast and
that was well below standard. We make our own anyway.

>
> thanks for the nostalgia trip!
> =)jude

Sorry can't do more for you.

In article . com>,
Jude > wrote:
>Well, thisd homesick New mexican was in need of a green chile fix, and
>I couldn't afford to get my chiles roasted and frozen, then shipped in
>dry ice like i did last year It was suggested to me that I culd get
>fresh ones and roast them myself to save weight, thus shipping cost,
>and so I attempted this option.
[bw]
>
>A bummer....salvaged only by the wonderful smell of the green chile
>enchiladas cooking in my oven right now.
Hi Jude. Getting hungry already. Can we have the recipe please?


>
>Not sure if I should be sad or happy to have at least one pan of $50
>enchildas here......
All I can say is that back in the 80's, I paid $77 for 3 pounds.

Worth it!

Johann

--
Return address invalid due to spam.

hmmm...i can make up a recipe here...


get about 2 - 3 lbs of new mexican green chiles. roast, peel, and chop
them. leave some seeds if yu want it hot, or rinse the seeds briefly if
you want it milder. placce the chopped chiles in a soup pot with q
chopped onion and 3 or 4 cloves of minced garlic. splash a little water
on. stew this for a while (20-30 minutes perhaps) to let favors come
together. you can add potatoes or tomatoes to the chile if you want to,
but i'm a purist. you can also add ground pork or beef, but i'm a veg
so i don't know much about that.

in the meantime, shred a whoe lot of cheddar cheese, mince an onion,
and soften a dozen corn tortillas. to do this, heat a skillet real hot.
drizzle adrop or 2 of oil.....not much at all....into the skillet. put
the tortilla in for a few secods, then flip it. only heat it long enugh
to soften it and make it less stiff. do this to all your tortillas.

then, get a casserole dish. spoon some chile in the bottom to prevent
sticking, like you would if you made a lasagne. then put in 4
tortillas. cover them with cheese and onion, then ladle chile sauce
over them. top with 4 tortillas. make another layer of cheese onion
and chile, top with tortillas again and cover with chile sauce.

bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes, until everything is hot and
oozy.

serves 4 - 6.

sorry it's not more of a real recipe, but i was taught how to do this
by a hispanic mama who just showed me what to do. never used a recipe
for this and its largely iunstinct and taste! the same chile sauce is
good on huevos rancheros (fry eggs, place over softened tortillas, top
with chile and cheese, serve with beans and potaotes.)

the difficulty is in obtaining the new mexican chiles! but $77 for 3
lbs? are you dealing with overseas shipping? ouch!

On Sat, 01 Oct 2005 12:12:06 -0700, Jude wrote:
> the difficulty is in obtaining the new mexican chiles! but $77 for 3
> lbs? are you dealing with overseas shipping? ouch!

I missed the beginning of the thread...where did you say that YOU were
located, anyway? If you're anywhere east of the Mississippi, try ordering
your chiles from Iowa. We've got a large hispanic population here and we
grow all sorts of chiles for everything...UPS shipping charges would be a
lot less. :-)

--
Douglas J. Renze


The opinions above do not necessarily represent those of the
writer.

Douglas J. Renze wrote:

>
> I missed the beginning of the thread...where did you say that YOU were
> located, anyway? If you're anywhere east of the Mississippi, try ordering
> your chiles from Iowa. We've got a large hispanic population here and we
> grow all sorts of chiles for everything...UPS shipping charges would be a
> lot less. :-)
>


Thwey definitely do not grow New Mexican green chiles in Iowa, sorry.
Hatch chiles are truly an anomaly; I've never had chiles like them
anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.

Plus, they would probably cost just about as much to ship to VA as they
would from NM.

"Jude" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Douglas J. Renze wrote:
>
>>
>> I missed the beginning of the thread...where did you say that YOU were
>> located, anyway? If you're anywhere east of the Mississippi, try
>> ordering
>> your chiles from Iowa. We've got a large hispanic population here and we
>> grow all sorts of chiles for everything...UPS shipping charges would be a
>> lot less. :-)
>>
>
>
> Thwey definitely do not grow New Mexican green chiles in Iowa, sorry.
> Hatch chiles are truly an anomaly; I've never had chiles like them
> anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
> particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.
>
> Plus, they would probably cost just about as much to ship to VA as they
> would from NM.

Here is a place to look at New Mexico chiles online. They ship.
www.thechileshop.com
Dee Dee

On 2 Oct 2005 15:51:31 -0700, "Jude" > wrote:

>Douglas J. Renze wrote:
>
>>
>> I missed the beginning of the thread...where did you say that YOU were
>> located, anyway? If you're anywhere east of the Mississippi, try ordering
>> your chiles from Iowa. We've got a large hispanic population here and we
>> grow all sorts of chiles for everything...UPS shipping charges would be a
>> lot less. :-)
>>
>
>
>Thwey definitely do not grow New Mexican green chiles in Iowa, sorry.
>Hatch chiles are truly an anomaly; I've never had chiles like them
>anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
>particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.
>

Yes, Hatch chiles are definitely different. Until you have had them
the difference is hard to explain. The whole idea of terroir is
applicable here... I somehow think the same chile pepper grown
somewhere else would not taste like a "Hatch" chile.

Christine, who is hungry for some Hatch chiles now.

On Sun, 2 Oct 2005 19:21:42 -0400, "Dee Randall"
> wrote:


>Here is a place to look at New Mexico chiles online. They ship.
>www.thechileshop.com
>Dee Dee
>

Here is another:

http://www.chiletraditions.com/

Christine

In article .com>,
"Jude" > wrote:


> anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
> particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.


I have. I guy I worked with moved to Iowa. He was afraid that he'd
have to have his inlaws ship him Mexican food supplies, but he found
lots of Mexican food supplies there.

Dee Randall wrote:
> "Jude" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > Douglas J. Renze wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> I missed the beginning of the thread...where did you say that YOU were
> >> located, anyway? If you're anywhere east of the Mississippi, try
> >> ordering
> >> your chiles from Iowa. We've got a large hispanic population here and we
> >> grow all sorts of chiles for everything...UPS shipping charges would be a
> >> lot less. :-)
> >>
> >
> >
> > Thwey definitely do not grow New Mexican green chiles in Iowa, sorry.
> > Hatch chiles are truly an anomaly; I've never had chiles like them
> > anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
> > particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.
> >
> > Plus, they would probably cost just about as much to ship to VA as they
> > would from NM.
>
> Here is a place to look at New Mexico chiles online. They ship.
> www.thechileshop.com
> Dee Dee

Thanks...only dried powder and dried red there, no fresh roasted
greens, thanks anyways!

Christine Dabney wrote:

>
> Here is another:
>
> http://www.chiletraditions.com/
>
> Christine

lol...i went to look at their cost for shipping frozen green......they
charge a $25 haz-mat fee as well!! wonder what's so hazardous about
green chile?

christine,wsa it a bad year for chile? everything i'm finding seems to
be really expensive. is it pricey at home too? (I'm from albq, where
are yuou?)

On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 23:58:21 GMT, Dan Abel wrote:

> In article .com>,
> "Jude" > wrote:
>
>
> > anywhere else in the world. I've never heard of Iowa as being a
> > particulart haven for Mexican food, anyways.
>
>
> I have. I guy I worked with moved to Iowa. He was afraid that he'd
> have to have his inlaws ship him Mexican food supplies, but he found
> lots of Mexican food supplies there.

If it's hot, you can grow chilies. Why do people think the SW has a
lock on it? My brother moved from the outskirts of San Diego county
(Ramona) to the mountain range on the coast of Oregon and wasn't able
to grow chiles; but I bet he could have if he'd moved to central
Oregon or the high desert.

On 2 Oct 2005 17:21:28 -0700, "Jude" > wrote:

>Christine Dabney wrote:
>
>>
>> Here is another:
>>
>> http://www.chiletraditions.com/
>>
>> Christine
>
>lol...i went to look at their cost for shipping frozen green......they
>charge a $25 haz-mat fee as well!! wonder what's so hazardous about
>green chile?
>
>christine,wsa it a bad year for chile? everything i'm finding seems to
>be really expensive. is it pricey at home too? (I'm from albq, where
>are yuou?)

I am in northern CA right now..but just left Albuquerque the first
week in September. I had a traveling nurse assignment there.

I am not sure about the Chile harvest, but I seem to remember them
saying it wasn't the best of years.

I was trying to figure out how to bring some into California,
unroasted, but CA doesn't allow produce to be brought into the state.
And I had no room in my car for fresh roasted chiles. But man, they
sure would taste good right now!!!!

Christine

In article >,
Christine Dabney > wrote:
>
> I am in northern CA right now..but just left Albuquerque the first
> week in September. I had a traveling nurse assignment there.
>
> I am not sure about the Chile harvest, but I seem to remember them
> saying it wasn't the best of years.
>
> I was trying to figure out how to bring some into California,
> unroasted, but CA doesn't allow produce to be brought into the state.
> And I had no room in my car for fresh roasted chiles. But man, they
> sure would taste good right now!!!!
>
> Christine

My mom got boxes of mild and hot at Nob Hill in Campbell. Apparently it
was a Nob Hill event this year. Is there one near you? Maybe you could
see if they still have any left or if they can still order you some.
They were charging .79 a pound but you have to do the roasting, peeling
and seeding yourself.

marcella

Bubbabob wrote:
> sf > wrote:

>
> Growing quality NM chiles takes more than heat. You need very alkaline soil
> and excessive UV exposure to achieve the proper balance of heat and flavor.
> A wet spring and dry summer are important, too.

DING!DING!DING! We have a winner!

Thank you, Bubba. The issue wasn't the chiles anyway, it was the high
price of shipping!