Hatch are fine but have you tried the chiles of Northern New Mexico?
, a chile farm in the small town of Velarde. By “up here,” he means northern New Mexico, not the southern part of the state — a distinction he feels compelled to draw in light of the ubiquity of the almighty Hatch, which is what most people think of when they think of the New Mexican green chile.
But the biggest part of the appeal of northern New Mexican chiles is their flavor. “Green chile’s why you move here; red chile’s why you stay,” says Romero. But “the, a local agriculture advocacy group. She’s talking about the non-hybridized chiles that families sling from roadside stands between the north New Mexico towns of Velarde and Rinconada, 23 miles south of Taos; that local farmers sell at farmer’s markets, and northern New Mexicans bring in bushels to dinner parties.
Like New Mexico itself, the green chile symbolically fuses the cultures of the Hispano and Indigenous peoples that have inhabited the land for centuries. “New Mexico has its own distinct culture,” says the state’s poet laureate Levi Romero, who teaches Chicano studies at the University of New Mexico. “Especially in the northern part of the state, where our origins are European and Mexican.” “We are a mix of Native Indigenous blood and Spanish blood.
With the exception of Farrar and a scattering of others, most farmers don’t even attempt to grow chiles this far north in the state, but with his background as a hydrogeologist, Marcoline located what he considers a “rare microclimate that’s perfect for peppers,” and built his own irrigation system, greenhouses, wood-fired bed systems, and pumps. “The harvest is predictably abundant,” he says of the area, “and the colors are always vibrant, just like the Taos sunsets.