“Foodies already know that authentic New Mexico Hatch Peppers make everything better — burgers, pizzas, tacos, omelets, guacamole, salsa … It’s the always anticipated fresh Hatch Cile season for the next month. Check the Melissa’s Website for the schedule of Weekend roasting near you.”
“Named after the original growing area in Hatch, New Mexico, authentic Hatch Peppers are truly a Southwestern favorite. No other pepper is prized more than this variety, which grows in the Hatch Valley, just north of Las Cruces. The valley, which stretches along the Rio Grande's southern-most bend before crossing into Texas and Mexico, is covered with row after row of these green leafy pepper plants for most of the summer.”
“Thick, juicy, and totally delicious, Hatch Chiles come in a variety of heat levels to suit every taste.”
“Try New Mexican stews and casseroles, or get creative with amped up chocolate chip cookies, zippy Bloody Marys, and more.”
“Available fresh only in August and September, Hatch Chiles are so good folks load up each summer and freeze enough roasted chiles to enjoy year-round.” The Melissa’s Website has the full schedule of area roastings.
We’ll also present the details of the ongoing (concludes Sept. 14th) ultimate Hatch Chile cooking competition with great prizes. https://ihatchchile.com/cooking-challenge/
Our resident Prince of Produce (and an unabashed Hatch Chile Pepper-Head), Robert Schueller, joins us to turn up the heat on all things Hatch Peppers.
Hi, I'm Sherry Yard, the Los Angeles Advisory Board for Career through Culinary Arts program. When I want the absolute best in Food 411, I listen to the SoCal restaurant show right here on AM830KLAA. And welcome back! It is the SoCal restaurant show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2024. And you can also catch us on the AM830 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show, putting it all together. And we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. Speaking about Melissa's produce, it is the very short but always eagerly anticipated hatch chili pepper season. There are roasting all over town. It's time to get a lot of flavor. And to tell us all about it is our resident prince of produce, the produce grew of Melissa's Robert Schuller. Robert, welcome back. And I know you're doing double duty this morning because I think you were just at a roasting. Yes, Andy, thanks for having me on. That is correct. Melissa is a hatch chili roasting, not only here in Southern California, but all over the United States. If you want to get to a hatch roasting, just go to Melissa.com. You'll see it on our front page. Just click the roasting button and look at all the different stores and retailers that you can find a hatch chili roasting, something you just don't want to do. Now, Robert, just as a little background, what can a listener expect at a hatch roasting? What is available to them? Okay, this is your time to not only buy the hatch chili by the case, they come in 25 pound cases, but at the same time that a roasting, you'll be able to get them roasted within five minutes because when you bring a case home law, it takes you probably about four hours to roast them off. But we have these specially designed hatch chili roasters and we've been doing these roasting for almost two decades now. You go to the event and it's like a blast from all the people who are familiar with hatch chili to all the south left, they come to these events because they know it's the time to load up on your hatch chili. When you get your hatch chili, it's also remember to get your freezer bags because what you do when you get home, all you have to do after they're roasted at the events, is you peel them, you put them into the freezer bags and that's how you, by putting them in the freezer, that's how you're able to enjoy the hatch peppers throughout the year for any special occasion game and a bursary birthday. So you also have to put out all your ice cream containers and packages in your freezer to make room for the hatch chili because it's only six to eight weeks during the month of August and September that we do these not only offer the fresh hatch chilies but offer low school throughout the country. Now Robert, interestingly and unusually in terms of the hatch roasting and buying the fresh hatch peppers now, they come in a variety of hotnesses. Tell us about that because again that's a bit unusual. Yes, well the different heat levels of chili, you know like a jalapeno, it's pretty much seen as a mild medium type chili and then you get the hotter ones like habaneros which, you know, for chili pepper heads, they love the really hot ones. However, one of the uniqueness about the hatch chili is that their specific varieties are grown in four different heat levels mild medium hot and extra hot. So whether you're a chili head unless the extra hot or whether you're just a rookie when it comes to peppers being enjoyed in your meal, even kid friendly, the mild ones are extremely mild, probably more mild than the Anaheim chili. So but you know, it's not just about the heat, especially the hatch peppers, it's all about the flavor and the uniqueness of the chili that makes it so unique. Now Robert, we have a couple of contests that are going on this morning. I think this is a good time right now to talk about your national hatch chili cooking challenge and then a little later in the segment we're going to talk about a local giveaway we have courtesy of of Melissa's for the lucky recipient to win a hatch pepper gift tray. But just give us a little of the 411 on the ongoing hatch chili cooking challenge. Okay, yes. Okay, so the competition, we call it hatch chili champ. It's a new competition that we're doing online for all home cooks and chili enthusiasts to showcase their favorite hatch chili pepper creation for a chance to win cash prizes and ultimate bragging rank. You can learn more at ihatchilly.com. Again, that website is ihatchilly.com and using the social media hashtag #hatchillychamps contest will run from now until Sunday, September 14th of 2004-24. Participants can enter this contest for four different exciting categories. Best salsa, soup, and chili, best appetizer, best hatch entree, or best hatch burger. The winners in each category, each of the categories, will receive a $500 if they win their respective categories. And then one of the winners in each of those categories will advance to the ultimate championship taking home an additional $1,000, which is the brand prize, an exclusive hatch chili trophy and bragging rights for the year 2024. So stay connected to Melissa's produce and find inspiring hatch chili pepper recipes on instagram at Melissa's produce. One word. Again, that's @Melissa's produce. That's our social media tag, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, information there. The recipes are there to get you inspired. Check it out. Now, let's back up a little bit, Robert, if we can. And I know you always enjoy explaining this to our listeners. What's so special about the hatch chilies and why is it that they can only grow in a very specific area of New Mexico? So hatch chilies are from Hatch, New Mexico to understand this is a very much a agricultural area of New Mexico. And what makes the hatch chilies so special, you know, I talked about how you can find them in four heat levels, but they're also very needy. They need to be very sick. It's because of their fertile soils that English the chilies grow along the Rio Grande that feeds them. But also, the weather, because it's at an altitude where it's someone who agrees during the day when they're grown, it drops down to about 60 degrees at night, which allows for them to make a texture for this. And then, of course, when you char the actual chilies, it makes the hatch chilies so, so easy to peel, even more easier than actually skinning a Blanco, a Fia, or Anaheim chilies. And then, of course, as I mentioned, the different varieties of heat, whether you're not big into chilies, but you're into the flavor, but from mild to extra hot, four different levels that make this chili what it is today for everybody to come together during the month of August and September and always look forward to this chili seasoning. Now, Robert, we have a local promotion where the prize is going to be a hatch pepper gift tray that I'm going to allow you to explain in a minute. But here's how easy it is to get in on this. This is our Instagram contest, and for all of our listeners, our Instagram is @socal restaurant show. And if you go to our Instagram feed between now and 11.59 p.m. on Tuesday, all you have to do is, is there is an image now there of the hatch chili roasting and Melissa's from a couple weeks ago. It's a montage. You'll see their executive chef, Tom Fraker. All you have to do is click on that image, like it, and mention what your favorite dish is that you use hatch chilies in, and you will be entered to win this hatch pepper gift tray from Melissa's, which is a $75 item. And Melissa's will ship it to you. Robert, give us the highlights of all the things that are in the hatch pepper gift tray, because if you're a chili head, this is a gift you want. Oh, yes. So Melissa does the unique gift baskets and gift trays of produce. And this particular one, the Melissa Patch gift tray, it comes with not only our new attach pepper cookbook, but it also comes with two hatch chili shakers of our famous ground hatch chili pepper powder. One is a red hot powder. The other one is a mild green powder. There's also a package of the dried hatch chili peppers in hot. So if you do run out of hatch chilies, because you didn't get enough roasted and put into your freezer, you can always refer to these dry peppers. Next, the hatch pepper chili seasoning is a shaker. And it's a perfect substitute for salt that has a little bit of that has hatch in it as well. I use it on basically everything. And a really good one in the back. Yes, it's delicious. Also, there's a package of the tube of the hatch chili polenta, the hatch salsa, and of course, the hatch cleans that, which is a granola based type product that we offer in this gift tray. So good luck. Now, just to repeat one more time, to get in our Instagram contest to win this wonderful hatch pepper gift tray, go to our Instagram feed at SoCal Restaurant Show. You will see the posts there from a hatch roasting at Melissa's from a couple weeks ago. It's a montage. You can't miss it. You need to click on that, like it, and then leave the comment of what your favorite dish is that you use hatch chilies for. And you need to do that by 1159 p.m. on Tuesday. And we will select a random winner from all of those qualified restaurants. We're going to pick up the conversation about hatch chilies with Robert Schuler of Melissa's on the other side. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. More hatch chili talk coming up. We'll be right back.
