page_title: New Mexico chile
section_title: Food
hierarchical_section_title: New Mexico chile / Uses / Food
caption_attribution_description: English: Dried red New Mexico chile peppers. Photo taken in Kent, Ohio with a Panasonic Lumix digital camera (model DMC-LS75). Dried red New Mexico chili peppers purchased from a northeast Ohio-area Mexican grocery store.
context_page_description: New Mexico chile or New Mexican chile is a group of cultivars of the chile pepper from the US State of New Mexico, first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communities throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México. These heritage chile plants were used to develop the modern New Mexico chile peppers by horticulturist Fabián Garcia and his students, including Roy Nakayama, at what is now New Mexico State University in 1894. New Mexico chile, which typically grows from a green to a ripened red, is popular in the cuisine of the Southwestern United States, the broader Mexican cuisine, and Sonoran and Arizona cuisine, and an integral staple of New Mexican cuisine. Chile is one of New Mexico's state vegetables, and is referenced in the New Mexico state question "Red or Green?".
  The chile grown in the Hatch Valley, in and around Hatch, New Mexico, is called Hatch chile, but no one cultivar of chile is specific to that area, which is smaller than the acreage used to produce chile with the "Hatch" label. Chile grown in the Hatch valley only are a signature crop to New Mexico's economy and culture.
context_section_description: Green chile is served roasted and peeled, whole or diced, and in various sauces. The most common uses are often served diced, or within sauces and is elemental to dishes such as enchiladas, burritos, burgers, french fries, or rice. Chile is also served whole raw, fried, or baked chiles rellenos. New Mexican-style chile rellenos follow the much more traditional Mexican technique of being covered with egg batter and fried, although variations and casseroles do exist.
  In addition to local restaurants, many national food chains such as McDonald's and Jack in the Box offer green chile on many of their menu items.
  The red chile, the matured green chile, is frequently dried and ground to a powder. These dried or powdered fruits are turned into a red chile sauce. The dried peppers are rehydrated by boiling in a pot, and then blended with various herbs and spices, such as onion, garlic, and occasionally Mexican oregano. Red chile powder is usually simply blended with water, herbs, and spices; the addition of flour or other thickening agents is often considered to be non-traditional or non-purist. 
  Serving both red and green chile on a dish is sometimes referred to as "Christmas" style. Both green and red chile can be dried and turned into a powder, though this is more common with red chile.
caption: Red chile, dried
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