Green chile time!

[58limited]

25 lbs roasted this evening, it took about 45 minutes.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

That's really not so bad. Maybe I haven't be going hot enough. Then there's the peeling and removal of seeds before storing... <sigh>

[58limited]

Peeling and deseeding does take awhile. Sometimes I just vacuum seal them as-is and peel/deseed when i thaw them and use them.

[58limited]

I forgot to hold back a few pounds of fresh peppers so I went back to HEB last night to get a few more. The price is so good that I decided to buy another case. Just finished roasting them; went faster because the fire got way hot.

[Rod]

This is the first year in probably 5 years I never got an email from Hatch about preordering them at the start of the summer. Missing out this year!

[captainlee]

At a farmers market last week and they were roasting them in the large tumbling basket. Man did that smell great.

[DaveD]

I hope I don't get drummed out of the corps for this... but since our local grocery started carrying the Zia jarred Hatch chile, we are skipping the manual roasting entirely this year. This stuff is just so good, the "Hot" version tastes exactly like what we produce when we roast our own. We don't feel like we're missing a thing or compromising in any way.

Don't hate me...!

[58limited]

I buy the 505 Southwestern brand here at HEB and they are great! HEB has Zia, I'll have to try them.

[barelfly]

I use jarred as well…even with the stock of frozen red and green. Sometimes, I just need a spoonful or two. I have a few brands that I use, 505 being one. Sadies being another.

[acorgihouse]

Since my Costco started carrying the 505 brand jarred green chiles, I have not bought fresh. My produce co-op is closed on Mondays, while she goes to the markets to decide what to carry this week. Just got the week's list, and Hatch green chiles are on there. I'm going to go tomorrow, and have decided it's time to get fresh and roast my own for a change. Supposed to rain next few days, good time to grill on the lanai and build up the freezer.

[58limited]

Just got done vacuum sealing all of the Hatch chilies that I roasted this weekend: 50 lbs. After losses due to skinning, stemming, seeding, and water loss I had 28 lbs of processed peppers. 4 lbs went into my batch of hot sauce, the rest in the freezer. I also saved 2 1/2 quarts of the Hatch water that oozes out of the chilies while they steam. This is roasted Hatch flavor gold that I use as stock in whatever I think needs a little Hatch flavor.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Holy cripes thassa lotta chiles.

[texastweeter]

Bet that hatch water would go good in a bloody mary

[58limited]

100 lbs arrived today:

[DaveD]

Dude! You are a chile MACHINE. Another 100lb after the 50 you did back in August?!

Dude.

[58limited]

DaveD Well, about 25 lbs goes into my naturally fermented hot sauce which will be sold, I'm about to run the numbers. Its a big batch and should yield 300 bottles or so, maybe more. Quite a few peppers will be boiled fresh for fresh red enchilada sauce for the freezer. The rest, probably less than 50 lbs, will be fire roasted and peeled for the freezer.

[58limited]

I am at a potential fork in the road: I have extra fermented peppers of a single variety that is the base for both versions of my hot sauce. Now I need to decide whether to make it the Hatch version or the original version. Both have 6-7 different peppers in them. Both are good but most of the feedback that I get is that people prefer the Hatch version. I will need to use an additional 16 lbs of red Hatch to make the Hatch version. I posted on Facebook, awaiting feedback from my hot sauce fans.

[58limited]

I got a 'last call' e-mail last Monday and, after seeing that I gave away a lot of my green chile stash, I ordered another 25 lbs of green Hatch. I'm really liking the New Mexican cuisine that I've been playing around with and several recipes call for green chile sauce. Unlike most Mexican green sauce recipes I've seen, there are no tomatillos in the New Mexican recipes I've used. This should hold me until next season.

[barelfly]

Looks great!

Last call and getting close to freezing temps in the Hatch Valley. Was at the lake this past week and temps dropped to 36* or so. Glad you were able to get some more of that deliciousness!!!!

[DaveD]

Absolutely, NM style is chil all the way, little to no tomatillos. Nectar of the gawds.

[58limited]

DaveD when I first started playing around with Hatch chilies I made some Hatch Verde sauce from an online recipe but all I could taste was the tomatillos. The recipe called for 20 tomatillos and only 4 or 5 Hatch chilies. The New Mexican green sauce is so good, my new fave.

[58limited]

The last Hatch batch is vacuum sealed. These peppers were huge and there were a lot that are perfect for stuffing for chili rellenos. To the left are thirteen 3 packs of peeled relleno peppers and to the right are 6 lbs of peeled and seeded peppers.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Totally missed the boat on this season. I just didn't make it to the store and do my due diligence to get any this year. I was too... preoccupied with other things going on and let it slip on by. <sigh> My own fault.

[DaveD]

Happens to the best of us. Keep an eye out for the Zia brand Hatch chile at your store, sold in jars - it's really excellent (gotta get the Hot, not the Medium, the latter is devoid of any heat IMO). We like this stuff so much that we deliberately skipped buying bulk chile this year...