Selecting 🔥🥵 HOT Hatch Green Chile

[16Adams]

I read a few cooking FB Groups. Of course right now the big topic is New Mexico Green Chile. The following was posted

Q. How do you select hot green chile?
A. The more pointed the end the hotter they'll be in their type
Some varieties, Big Jim, Sandia etc are hotter than others.
However the hottest in each variety will have a more pointed end

I thought this interesting and worth sharing as 10 people rapidly concurred.
Ive eaten green chile my whole life.
I learned this today.

 

[bschoen]

Do you buy it?

 

[16Adams]

Do you buy it?

I usually hand select starting in a week or two. If I happen to be in a store I might select a couple pounds of pointed ends and see.

 

[cowgirl]

You don't bite the ends off in the store, to check the heat level? :razz:

 

[16Adams]

You don't bite the ends off in the store, to check the heat level? :razz:

I thought that was their rotisserie chicken. :-()

 

[cowgirl]

I thought that was their rotisserie chicken. :-()

:laugh:

 

[16Adams]

Well these were as pointed as I could find. Young Guns Walmart 19.95 per case.
I paid 3.97 for 1.54# for these 9. I don't need a case Wife needed a few things. Anyway, departure from Wal-Mart with a 10# Choice brisket, a 7# pork picnic, yellow tag steak burger patties, chiles.

It's back to school shopping season so the store was zoological

 

[16Adams]

Went outside to light The SOB and entered the tent to the aroma of broiling Chile
Nice aroma

 

[rw02kr43]

here's the ones I did last weekend. I have a bunch more.

Jason

 

[16Adams]

Thank You New Mexico and the Hatch region.
First test batch green chile roast. A nice polite heat. Going to wait again and test some more, in about a week.. I want an agressive heat that caresses the palate, not chokes the throat. These had a nice lasting lip numbing. Meaty, juicy. Dang good. Just a tad more heat.

 

[16Adams]

Last one

 

[Fooball]

Now that you mention the tip of the pepper, I think I fell for a trick by the produce guy at Winn Dixie about 20 years ago.

He was stocking nearby as I was contemplating which kinds of peppers I wanted to put in my next batch of chili. Wasn't sure of the heat in one kind (can't remember what kind).

Went over and asked him (old guy) if he knew how hot it was. He said "let's taste and find out." He pulled out his pocket knife and cut the tip off and gave it to me. "Here give it a try."

Lit me up. I mean... LIT ME THE FARK UP!!

No water, no milk for me- but he had a smile. He took a bite from a cut further up the pepper and says "now come on now, that ain't that bad."

I figured out later that that's where all the veins come together in a pepper and he knew exactly what he was doing.

Smart a$$.

 

[SmokerKing]

Great info.!

I picked up 20 lbs. of Hatch today, roasting them tomorrow!

 

[food4thot]

Lost my passion for farting around so go with this

 

[PGarSD]

I buy a whole freshly roasted box of Hatch chilies every year (I look for SoCal roasting locations/schedules on https://ihatchchile.com/in/california/).



You get the whole box roasted for you while you wait! You take the steaming box home (windows rolled down unless you can handle the smell of napalm), dump them in a clean sink, and then put them in zip-lock bags (6-8 chilies/bag), and freeze them. Thaw bags out as needed and you have hatch chilies all year! Awesome!



Pro tip (OK, I kinda dislike that saying): while they usually have boxes listed as mild, medium and hot, ask to try one before buying to confirm heat-level. Sometimes the "medium" has almost no heat and, sometimes it has HEAT! Better to check before you get ~20lbs of too mild or too hot a box.

 

[Dr. Trout Bum]

As you mentioned, the variety of pepper matters. Never heard the pointy end thing. Around here people generally say later harvest peppers are a bit spicier.