Who do you call when you have questions about what's going on with chiles in the world? According to the article (and common sense, it feels like?), the answer is the Chile Pepper Institute!
I would like you to know that I have been to the Chile Pepper Institute, and it is fantastic. We had a tour of their teaching garden and we learned so much not only about the general cultivation of chile peppers, but also about all the neat cross-breeding they're doing to develop peppers that have tons more flavor while retaining the heat that so many people value.
For several years now, we've purchased seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute and have grown our own at home! I'm a bit of a spice wimp, so I can only handle the mild to medium heat peppers. But I absolutely love the ones you can get from the Chile Pepper Institute, because they have pepper varieties that they developed that have tons of flavor, way more flavor compounds than traditional grocery store peppers, and still have that heat!! Some of them are like eating what a jalapeño from a decade ago was like, but if you increased the actual flavor of the chile by 10x. They're all so tasty!!
If you're interested in growing your own chile peppers from the Chile Pepper Institute, I think you'll be pleased to know that they sell their seeds online. Our favorites are the New Mexico 6-4 if you're looking for something in the mild to medium heat levels with lots of flavor, and the NuMex Big Jim variety if you want something a little hotter and bigger! And if you want to destroy your body with spicy heat, they have you covered there, too — get the Bhut Jolokia and may god rest your soul.
We usually start our New Mexico 6-4s and NuMex Big Jims inside in little planters in late March and keep them by windows that get lots of light. When the weather is consistently above 55°F outside, that's when we plant them outdoors. Growing peppers in a colder climate than New Mexico is a little more difficult than in the desert, but it's still very much worth it.
And as a bonus bit of fun since you've read this far, did you know that both chile peppers and eggplants are part of the solanaceae family? The family is also known as nightshades, and in addition to chile peppers and eggplants, this family also includes bell peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes.
The eggplant originally got its name because of the appearance of the fruit of this particular cultivars of eggplant, which they were also growing at the Chile Pepper Institute:
Neat, huh?
Thanks to my boyfriend for taking these lovely photos. 💚
