Hatch Chile Report: If Not New Mexico, Then Ralphs

By Amy Scattergood Tue., Aug. 2 2011 at 11:00 AM

Frieda's Produce

Hatch chiles

If you're the sort of person who annually packs the car and heads to New Mexico, driving endless ribbons of highways, through the wind farms and burnt deserts of California and Arizona, living on roadside enchiladas and anticipation, to pilgrimage to the town of Hatch, New Mexico, and its justly famous chile festival, you can get a chile fix closer to home this month. Think of it as something useful to do while you get your car tuned up for the trip east.

Frieda's Specialty Produce, the OC-based company that sources exotic fruits and specialty vegetables, will be supplying local Ralphs stores with truckloads of the New Mexico-grown chiles this month. Not only can you buy the chiles, but they'll roast them for you too. For those of us who don't have giant roasters in our driveways.

Not this coming Saturday, but on the following three, six stores in L.A. and O.C. counties will be tumble roasting chiles outside the stores. And not just one or two measly chiles, but big sacks of them. Which should tide you over until you can get in your car over Labor Day weekend. Just think how much more pleasant the 760 mile or so trip will be if you pack a few of Deborah Madison's goat cheese and chile soft tacos. (They're really good with corn tortillas and salsa verde.)

The chile roasting begins at 10 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m., or until the store runs out of chiles. You can buy 10 and 30 pound bags of chiles inside the store on the day of the event -- sorry, not in smaller quantities. So maybe go with a friend and split a bag. Here's a YouTube video of what Hatch chiles being roasted looks like, if you're not sure. It's about what you'd expect. And Frieda's gives instructions for how to roast them yourself if you'd rather do this in the privacy in your own home (or driveway).

Saturday, August 13:
Ralphs - Costa Mesa, 380 E. 17th St. (949) 645-8283.
Ralphs - La Canada, 521 W. Foothill Blvd. (818) 790-0584.

Saturday, August 20:
Ralphs - Los Angeles, 11727 Olympic Blvd., (310) 473-5238.
Ralphs - Huntington Beach, 5241 Warner Ave. (714) 377-0024.

Saturday, August 27:
Ralphs - Tustin, 13321 Jamboree Rd. (714) 544-0491.
Ralphs - Pasadena, 3601 E. Foothill Blvd. Pasadena (626) 351-6572.

Tags:

Amy Scattergood, chile roasting, Frieda's, Hatch Chile Festival, Hatch chiles, Ralphs

We Recommend

Gene Romig

Were it not for my grandfather, a turn of the century homesteader, there would not have been a Hatch, NM. A Civil Eng. he developed the agricultural industry there as the County Surveyor, taming the Rio Grande water supply. Check out a main aterial roadway known as B.B. Romig Drive when you go to Hatch. Oh yest, there is nothing like Hatch chiles. B. E. Romig, Whittier, CA

Gary Smith

A lot of peppers sold around the country as "Hatch" chile may or may not have actually been grown in the Hatch valley. The only way to be sure you're getting Hatch chile is to got to Hatch and get it. From a previous post "everyone knows Anaheim are really New Mexico chiles"...well, not exactly. Seeds from New Mexico were taken to California many years ago, did well, and became Anaheim peppers.True Hatch chile can only be grown in the Hatch/Mesilla valley, where the New Mexico climate, the soil, and the Rio Grande water all contribute to its characteristics.Can you actually taste a difference between Anaheim and Hatch peppers? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how fanatical a chile lover you are.

Randy Rodriguez

During the season, Hatch chiles are also usually sold by Bristol Farms and other fine exemplars of the corporate grocery. Good stuff, but, over the years, the ones I've bought were not remarkably better than most of the Anaheims and pasillas we get year round, the main difference being the better name ("Hatch" delivers the kind of monosyllabic glory that makes Anglos swoon) and better PR. Congrats to New Mexico for understanding how easy the reconquista bees.

gustavoarellano

As a soldier of the Reconquista, you're eating the wrong Hatch chiles. Everyone knows Anaheim are really New Mexico chiles, and pasillas are in another category.