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Hatch Madness: Putting famous green chile peppers to a blind taste test
With a little marketing help, Hatch chiles have become the rockstars of the pepper world.
Few produce items, much less peppers, have as many rabid fans as the green chiles that come from the small town of Hatch, N.M., but I’m sure garden blogger Renee Studebaker isn’t the first to wonder what all the fuss is about.
Chuy’s started hosting a green chile festival 22 years ago, but Hatch fever really caught on when Central Market launched its Hatch festival 15 years ago. Austinites suddenly had a ready supply of the peppers, both raw and roasted, that they could freeze and enjoy year-round. Central Market is now the largest buyer of Hatch green chiles, and the company now produces and sells dozens of Hatch products, including sausages, tortillas and even gelato.
But are Hatch peppers really that much better than Anaheims, your garden-variety green chiles that are available year-round? To find out, I asked Jill and Kevin Lewis of Austin Slow Burn to do a blind taste test for a new series I’m starting on Relish Austin called Feed Me Blind. (See footnote for more information on how to participate or send in suggestions.)
When it comes to peppers and all things hot, there are few people in Austin as knowledgeable as Jill and Kevin, who’ve been making some of the best salsas and fiery foods in Austin since the mid 1990s. They are fixtures on the hot sauce scene, and Hatch season is just about the busiest time of year for them.
We shot this video on Tuedsay in the Statesman studio, where I served them two quesadillas: one made with roasted hot Hatch chiles that I bought at Central Market and the other made with roasted Anaheims from H-E-B.
Could they tell a difference? Watch the video to find out:
Think you could taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi? What about farm fresh eggs versus store bought? Ketchup made with high fructose corn syrup versus ketchup made without it? We’ll be putting foods (and the people who swear they can tell the difference) to the test on Feed Me Blind, an occasional series on Relish Austin. Have a favorite food or drink you know you could pick out by taste alone or a suggestion for two items we should test? E-mail me at abroyles@statesman.com, and maybe I’ll ask to put a blindfold on you to find out if you’re right.
Photos by Mike Sutter and video by Jenni Jones for the Austin American-Statesman.
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By Jan Gunter
August 18, 2010 8:36 AM | Link to this
Awesome!! I’m not surprised - Hatch is the best! I’m a native Texan who spent a few glorious years in northern New Mexico, and my whole family fell in love with Hatch chiles. We love the Central Market festival every year when we can go smell them roasting in front of the store - and of course buy some fresh roasted chiles.
In New Mexico, every grocery store you drive by during chile season has a roaster out front and that amazing smell of roasting chiles in the air.
Ahhh….. Heaven!
By Jodi
August 18, 2010 11:55 AM | Link to this
I can tell the difference between real maple syrup and the crap they serve at most places these days….
By Suzanne Santos
August 26, 2010 8:12 AM | Link to this
Although they are not Hatch, buy some locally grown Anaheims at the SFC Farmers Market at Sunset Valley, and get them roasted on site for just 50 cents a pound! Local Anaheims and other peppers are certified organic from Johnson’s Backyard Garden and Hairston Creek Farm and all peppers are grown without synthetic chemicals from Finca Pura Vida and Indian Hills Farms. Check out even more Anaheims, Poblanos, Cubanos, etc. at the SFC Farmers Market Downtown (but no roaster allowed due to health code restrictions).
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June 8, 2011 7:42 AM | Link to this
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