boudreaulicious wrote:

bean wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Bean--I saw them last week --a bin each of hot and mild--at the Whole Foods on Ashland--pretty sure that's close to you. A quick call to the store should determine if they're still there.

I'm going to be near there on Friday so I'll check them out.
Thanks!

Just back from there and they still have the 2 bins--the "hot" looked a bit more depleted than the mild but they're definitely still in stock.

My wife picked up a 'hot' half dozen or so yesterday. I roasted, cleaned and set them up for an IQF last night. I've yet to do a thorough taste test, yet the residue I licked off my fingers was maybe medium hot. Going for burgers today so we can do a real tasting.

Let's see.

I bought a 1/2 bushel yesterday while in Hatch, NM for $5 from Hatch Chile Sales. That was about half the price of some of the more touristy places in Hatch.

I also bought 1# of chipotle and ancho chile powder as well as a bag of Vidalia onions.

I roasted about half of the peppers this morning using the broiler pan method. I am beginning to wonder if it is worth the effort.

The biggest, meatiest, zingiest, most flavorful green chiles I've ever had - these Big Jim medium hots are from (gasp) Colorado! I'm regretting I only got a bushel.

How do you roast them, Bill?

I grew Big Jims once in KC. Nice pepper, but KC's climate is too humid methinks.

Geo

Geo,

I've had Big Jims from southern NM before that were smaller and less flavorful that these giants from CO. As you know, chile pollination is tricky and naming standards are loose, so who knows what these really are. I normally roast over live coals in the WFO, but too much is going on this year, so I had the grower roast these in a propane cage.

Best,
Bill

Greetings lther's,

After lurking for many years and sponging off your wonderful advice, I thought I should give back a bit if I can.

Like myself, I know that some of you know the awesomeness that is NM green chile (and red) and have been frustrated by not having access to any decent stuff here in Chicagoland (other than Heinen's which now seems to do annual roasts during chile season). I don't consider any of the cans to be of decent quality...

A few weeks back and I was flabbergasted to see Bueno frozen green chile in the case at Pete's Fresh Market in Oak Park. Of course I immediately snapped up a few containers. They have hot, extra hot (which isn't much hotter really), and red. Unfortunately, they don't have autumn roast... I'm not sure if other Pete's have it - it is in the freezer case with mexican foods (at least at the OP store).

The double edged sword here is that I wanted to let you all know good quality green chile was finally available here, plus I want enough people to keep buying it from them so they keep restocking it! So, you're welcome and thank you!

lthDave wrote:Greetings lther's,

After lurking for many years and sponging off your wonderful advice, I thought I should give back a bit if I can.

Like myself, I know that some of you know the awesomeness that is NM green chile (and red) and have been frustrated by not having access to any decent stuff here in Chicagoland (other than Heinen's which now seems to do annual roasts during chile season). I don't consider any of the cans to be of decent quality...

A few weeks back and I was flabbergasted to see Bueno frozen green chile in the case at Pete's Fresh Market in Oak Park. Of course I immediately snapped up a few containers. They have hot, extra hot (which isn't much hotter really), and red. Unfortunately, they don't have autumn roast... I'm not sure if other Pete's have it - it is in the freezer case with mexican foods (at least at the OP store).

The double edged sword here is that I wanted to let you all know good quality green chile was finally available here, plus I want enough people to keep buying it from them so they keep restocking it! So, you're welcome and thank you!

Nice work lthDave and welcome!!

No Bueno frozen green chile at Pete's now for a few months I keep checking to see if they'll stock it again... Anywhere else have frozen NM green chile? Do I have to wait for Heinen's in the fall?

As of a few weeks back, I see that Costco has 505 brand green chile in big jars - I bought one but haven't tried it yet - not hopeful since it has citric acid/lime juice.

^^^

I bought half a bushel last year in Hatch, NM last summer and roasted them. I have NOT been able to use them as they turned out to be significantly hotter than I hoped they would turn out.

By the way, the Hatch Chile festival is held over Labor Day weekend each year in Hatch, which is about 35 miles north of Las Cruces , NM. If you are in the area that time of year, it is worth the $10 admission fee. However, do realize that it is about the size of the Kane County Fair and almost about as exciting.

Personally, if I wanted to get some peppers and get to learn more about peppers, I would do the following instead:

1) Head to Las Cruces. Visit the Chili Pepper Institute at the New Mexico State University and you will be able to meet some of the people developing new pepper varieties.

2) While you are there, visit the Chili Pepper Research Gardens which are open to the public and well worth a walk through. (Stay away from the actual rows if the the soil is wet.) In the garden, you will see literally hundreds of different varietal peppers including the bhut jalokia peppers. adjacent to the chile gardens, you will see some other fruit trees that you probably have never seen.

3) There is also a pretty good farm museum attached to the university that is worth a visit.

4) After you have done that, head up to Hatch where in the fall, you can watch them harvesting the crop and where you will find nearly any chile product that you desire.

Or, if your budget does not allow for an annual trip to NM, you could wait for Heinen’s to bring in the chile roasters (late August-early September) and buy a case of freshly-roasted chiles to stock your freezer. Then, you can put them on/in everything until the supply runs out – usually just before August.

Hi,

I believe Sunset Foods now has a Hatch chili roaster, too.

Regards,
Cathy2

The Roeland Park Price Chopper, on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro, is usually referred to as the "Mexi-Chopper" because of its focus on Latino products, including a bakery and a seafood section, plus a *huge* produce section featuring just about any Mexican fruit or vege you could want. And (wait for it!) of course they have a mammoth chili roaster, which they stack with Hatch chilis, beginning the end of August. Even after I'd stocked up my freezer, I return to watch the action, and smell that wonderful perfume of roasting chilis! A wonderful event.

They wouldn't know how to even spell haitch-ay-tee-see-haitch here in waaay upstate NY.
Sigh.

Geo

Hi,

There is a Price Chopper near my niece's home in the Kansas City area. I thought with a name like Price Chopper, it was a value priced store. Instead, I found the name was a fooler with the prices more than I expected.

Did you like that store?

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi C2!

There are no chain supermarkets in Kansas City now. [I left several years ago, but I presume nothing has changed.] All the major supermarkets in the seven county area are owned by one firm (indeed, IIRC, one family). They have three levels; Price Chopper, again IIRC, is the middle level. Because there is no competition, prices are what they are.

When I arrived in KC in '71, everyone was there: Safeway, A&P, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, etc. There was also a regional out of Des Moines, employee-owned (they might still be there...). All of them long gone now.

Oh, wait: WalMart was trying out their 'neighborhood grocery' concept when I left--I guess sort of an Aldi (ooops, forgot them: they're in KC too) with a limited item range.

Yes, I love the Mexi-Chopper, it was my go-to store for anything Latino. The seafood was wonderful, and the produce out of this world. When the weather was nice, the produce section had like huge garage doors that went up, turning the whole section into an outdoor-indoor market!

Here's the Yelp entry on the store:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/price-chopper-mission

You should give it a try next time you visit your neice!

Geo

Johnsonville makes a hatch chile brat, I found it not to have much, if any, hatch green chile flavor http://www.johnsonville.com/products/ha ... chile.html

Sweet Willie wrote:Johnsonville makes a hatch chile brat, I found it not to have much, if any, hatch green chile flavor http://www.johnsonville.com/products/ha ... chile.html

As I have learned the hard way: not all Hatch chiles are hot. I thought it was universal until I bought some in Kansas to bring back here. The next time, I asked for hot and got hot, and yet some people found some hotter than others.

Hatch chiles are grown in Hatch, NM, but it can be different varieties (or at least that is now my impression).

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:As I have learned the hard way: not all Hatch chiles are hot.

When we order them fresh each season (in 25# cases), we're typically offered 4 different heat levels to choose from and even then, there's a certain randomness to it.

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:

Sweet Willie wrote:Johnsonville makes a hatch chile brat, I found it not to have much, if any, hatch green chile flavor http://www.johnsonville.com/products/ha ... chile.html

As I have learned the hard way: not all Hatch chiles are hot.

agreed, I wasn't commenting from the heat perspective, I was looking for some chile flavor and that was not present (let alone any heat).

Geo wrote:Hi C2!

There are no chain supermarkets in Kansas City now. [I left several years ago, but I presume nothing has changed.] All the major supermarkets in the seven county area are owned by one firm (indeed, IIRC, one family). They have three levels; Price Chopper, again IIRC, is the middle level. Because there is no competition, prices are what they are.

When I arrived in KC in '71, everyone was there: Safeway, A&P, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, etc. There was also a regional out of Des Moines, employee-owned (they might still be there...). All of them long gone now.

Geo

HyVee has about wight locations in the metro area.

jlawrence

HyVee has about wight locations in the metro area.

OK, Joe, that's the store(s) out of Des Moines that I mentioned. Glad to hear that they're still there. And if they have eight stores now, then they've expanded considerably since I left town. But, again, they're not national, they're regional.

Schnuck's out of St. Louis tried to make it in KC, but failed; I think HyVee bought one or two of their stores. (There used to be a Schnuck's in Janesville... wonder if it's still there.)

Geo

Geo wrote:Schnuck's out of St. Louis tried to make it in KC, but failed; I think HyVee bought one or two of their stores. (There used to be a Schnuck's in Janesville... wonder if it's still there.)

Geo

Actually, when you lived in Wisconsin, there were two chains in the Rockford area - Ingles owned by Schnucks and Hilander owned by Krogers. In 2011 or so, Schnucks bought out Hilanders. Schnucks and Woodmans are the main game in the area.

HyVee in the central states and Winco Foods in the western states are the two supermarkets that I will eat most of my meals when I am in the area. The food in those two stores are pretty good and totally beat most of the fast food options.

HyVee also has a store in DeKalb, IL.

Jewel-Osco Hatch Chile Pepper Events 2018

We are hosting a Hatch Chile Roast from 11a-5pm at the following stores!

Event Locations & Dates

August 18th & 19th: 6140 Northwest Hwy Crystal Lake IL
August 18th & 19th: 145 S Eastwood Drive Woodstock IL
August 25th & 26th: 1350 S Route 12 Fox Lake IL
August 25th & 26th: 1485 Palatine Rd Hoffman Est IL
September 1st & 2nd: 125 E Stearns Bartlett IL
September 1st & 2nd: 652 Kirk Road St. Charles IL

https://www.jewelosco.com/2018/08/hatch/

Today and tomorrow is hatch chili fest at Heinens Bannockburn. 11-4

-Will