MEET "MR. CHILE" - NMSU Agriculture and Agronomy Professor Paul Bosland, also known as "Mr. Chile, " takes Sunny on a tour of the fiery Pepper Patch, where exotic pods - everything from bananas to pinatas - are grown.
There's a fire brewing in Cruces, just west of campus. Each day the inferno becomes a little brighter, a bit hotter, and a tad more menacing. Soon the blaze will rage, spewing forth a pageantry of colors - greens, oranges, reds, yellows, and purples; it's almost chile harvest at NMSU's Chile Breeding Program's Teaching and Demonstration Garden. Over the past few weeks, the 31/2 acre plot has become a fiery display, ablaze with 250 different chile varieties. The polished soldiers come in a slew of extraordinary shapes, sizes and colors that represent signature chiles from around the world. NMSU Agronomy and Horticulture Professor Paul Bosland, also known as "Mr. Chile," oversees the lush garden to which the public is invited. The garden serves as an experimental playground not only for Bosland's students but also for students from other agricultural disciplines - plant breeding, insects and pathology.
"I'd like to educate more people about chile and its diversity. It's still surprising that not very many people here (in New Mexico) know much about chile." Yet the perky pod has been a part of the state's culture since the 1600s when chile-loving Spaniards first planted the seed along the Rio Grande. By the 1800s, both the green and red pod dominated New Mexican cuisine.
"When New Mexicans consider chile, they think of only jalapenos and the New Mexico types," says Bosland. "But there are many more kinds of chile that we aren't growing and eating, and farmers won't grow produce unless the consumer says, 'I want this'."
Expanding my own chile horizons, I toured the flaming garden with the professor. It was mid-morning and god-awful humid. I was overdressed, wearing jeans and hiking boots to plod through the earth, soggy from the previous night's downpour. "During the hot weather, we get to the garden by 6 a.m. By noon, it's too hot to be out here," Bosland says. By "we," the professor refers to himself and his cadre of students - 6 undergraduates, 7 graduate and 1 post doc. "Actually, I have a rather small class now. I guess I'm getting old," Bosland says, flashing a boyish grin that's written about almost as often as his chiles.
Adjacent to the garden, a mailbox is stuffed with complimentary booklets that visitors use for the self-guided garden tour. Emily, his 16-year-old daughter, painted the curvaceous chile pod that festoons the mailbox. Other chile drawings, creatively etched over the years by Emily and her 13-year-old brother William are plastered on Bosland's office door. Chile is a family affair. He and his wife Judy often host hotlucks (potlucks that feature chile-inspired fare) for friends and students using fresh pods from their backyard garden.
"Ten years ago you wouldn't have seen this many different kinds of Bell peppers," Bosland says, pointing to a nearby patch bright with the familiar red and green variety, but some Bells were also cast in unusual yellows, oranges, violets, and purples. The chubby fruit are named for our colorful feathered friends - blue jay, black bird, canary, etc. "These are imported from Holland. Anyone can get the seeds." (Bosland's booklet lists a number of commercial seed suppliers.)
"Farmers (and home gardeners) are experimenting more," Bosland says. "And they're growing some of the more exotic chiles like serranos and poblanos. As a result, these chiles are moving into the market place. But we need to supply the consumer with recipes so they know how to use them."
Bosland moves on, squatting near a bushy plant peppered with colorful mini-pods - ornamentals. Easy to grow, the plant can survive for up to two days without water. "They're hardy like marigolds," Bosland explains. "In fact, many home gardeners are choosing to grow ornamentals instead of marigolds." There's a fringe benefit. "The (mild-mannered) fruit is edible and tastes good in dishes like soup."
I spent the remaining time tagging along Mr. Chile from one palatable chile patch to the next, learning a lot about chile. Some tidbits are shared below; others will be shared in future columns.
- Hungarian chileheads are "like New Mexicans," says Bosland. "They use first chile as a vegetable, then when it turns red, they use it as a dehydrated product.
- The banana chile, so-called because of its shape, is native to Hungary. Sweet and hot, the banana embellishes dishes like goulash and stew, but we New Mexicans prefer to pickle the pod.
- Mexican pinata. Don't wack it, chop it! This hotter-than-hot jalapeno begins life as lime green, then it turns yellow and then orange and then red at maturity. Its yellow foilage "looks sickly but that's its trait," informs Bosland. "The plant produces a nice little load of fruit."
- Cayenne. "We make almost all the mash for all the hot sauces in the country," says Bosland. "It's more economical to grow it and mash it here than in the Southeast, where they'd have to fight disease problems and humid weather."
- Claw of the Eagle - a small, aggressive pepper being developed for the Japanese. "It bites you. Attacks you," says Bosland. "It has a very intense sting that comes quickly but then dissipates quickly. Asians tell us that we don't grow hot enough peppers for their taste." Bosland also added that Asians purchase only whole peppers "never the powder. They want to grind it themselves. That way, they know exactly what they're getting."
- Malagueta - a small Tabasco that grows wild in the Amazon basin in Brazil. Slaves discovered the pepper when they arrived in Brazil. They named it malagueta because its taste reminded them of their native African ginger, also named malagueta.
- New Mexicans don't grow many habaneros. "They're so late in maturing that a farmer can't really get a big yield," says Bosland "We'd have to breed earliness into them to get a crop."
Bosland reports that he has chile every day, "but not at every meal. I haven't put it on my corn flakes - yet."
HOW TO GET TO THE CHILE GARDEN
The garden is located just west of S. Main on University. Look for a wood and chain link fence on the south side of the street. Once inside the gate, make a quick left, then a quick right. The garden is located on the eastside adjacent to a greenhouse. The self-guided tour booklets are located inside the mailbox painted with a red chile. The garden is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 646-3405.
PLEASE NOTE: Many readers had trouble linking to the "SOAR" recipe site listed in last week's column. Try this address: http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/. And here's another hot 'n spicy site: http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/462.
