Skip to content

Well Seasoned: Chile Peppers

Susan Pope knows her peppers. Pope is a farmer from Greeley who runs the stand at the Longmont Saturday Farmers Market near the entrance with the tantalizing revolving roaster and has been at it for 35 years.

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Susan Pope knows her peppers. Pope is a farmer from Greeley who runs the stand at the Longmont Saturday Farmers Market near the entrance with the tantalizing revolving roaster and has been at it for 35 years. Her farm is represented at six area farmers markets and her farm stand is open seven days a week, in season. Pope welcomes the pepper season that runs from August through October—or the first frost—when she makes hay, or peppers, while the sun shines. And it’s been shining in Colorado a lot lately.

“We used to grow 30 varieties of peppers but we now specialize in the 12 most popular varieties. Of these, Big Jim and Poblano are the favorites, though Anaheim is also a good seller, for wimps,” she adds slyly. Her personal favorite is the Poblano for its rich flavor and broad shape, perfect for stuffing. Poblano is also a good choice for Chile Verde, the ubiquitous green sauce that covers your tamales and your eggs at diners all over Colorado.

A recent breakfast trip to Good Eats Grill on Francis Street included an omelet that was “smothered” with the piquant sauce. Last night, facing the dilemma of cooking dinner in 93-degree heat, I microwaved a split spaghetti squash for 15 minutes and tossed the strands with some of the Chile Verde for a quick, interesting (vegan, gluten and diary-free) dinner.

I found the Chile Verde sauce recipe on a sign at Lucky’s Market on Ken Pratt where they have their own pepper roaster going. Produce manager Lisa Thomas said they use Hatch chiles there, a place specific for peppers, from Hatch, New Mexico as well as the increasingly popular Pueblo chiles from Colorado.

Hatch chiles have a national following but the Colorado Pueblo peppers, especially their Mirasol variety, are close contenders. Try them both and choose your favorite. Pope, who also grows the Mirasol variety, explained that Mirasol ranges from medium to hot, and the sun-tracking plant, as its name implies, turns red, making the dried red pepper good for ristras, a dried chile hanging arrangement popular in New Mexico.

Chile peppers are native to Mexico and traveled to the Old World during the Columbian Exchange, following Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. This global transfer of plants, animals, culture, population, technology and ideas impacted nearly every aspect of both the New and the Old Worlds and resulted in chile peppers integrating into other cuisines as well as being welcomed as a medicine.  

Certain cultures embraced the pepper, brought by the Portuguese traders, with enthusiasm; these included South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines. From the Portuguese colonies of Goa in India, the peppers traveled through Central Asia and Turkey to Hungary where they became the national spice in the form of paprika. If you imagine a Goulash without the benefit of paprika, you come up with a fairly unremarkable stew.  

Chile peppers are hot because they contain capsaicin, a compound located on the interior ribs and seeds of the pepper.  Capsaicin is fat soluble, so no amount of water will soothe the pain of your burning mouth if you find you have ingested something beyond your comfort level. Pain receptors in your mouth send a message to your brain that responds by raising the heart rate, stimulating perspiration and flooding the brain with endorphins, the body’s natural painkilling mechanism. If you think it is a “rush” to eat a hot pepper, you are exactly right.

Back in Pennsylvania we have chile peppers but nowhere near the variety and pungency of what is available here in Colorado. It’s so interesting to learn all about the variance in these plants and also great fun to go to the farmers market and see them roasting and being sold so conveniently in plastic bags, which helps to loosen the charred skin.

We treat our peppers differently in PA and I have included a family favorite that I got more than 10 years ago from Randy Barger, a good ole Renaissance man from Central PA. His recipe is the gold standard in my book. And I’ve also included the recipe for Chile Verde, courtesy of Lucky’s Market, so you can smother your eggs, tamales, or spaghetti squash with some Colorado green goodness. They are both good recipes and will help capture some of the heat of the summer to savor in the coming cold, dark months.

Randy Barger and Peppers in Tomato Sauce (Photo by Anne Quinn Corr)

Randy Barger’s Hot Peppers in Tomato Sauce

Makes 5 pints

  • 2 and a half quarts mixed hot peppers, Hungarian Wax, Jalapeno, Habanero, cayenne
  • 12 ounces tomato paste
  • 2 cups white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • one fourth cup sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • dash oregano

Remove the stems from the peppers and slice with a slicing disk in a food processor or by hand. Prepare a hot water bath for canning the peppers. Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot and cook about 10 minutes. Add the sliced peppers, making certain that they are covered with the sauce. Pack into sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (make that 20 minutes at this high altitude.)  If you don’t want to can them, keep refrigerated. They will be good for as long as you have them around.

Spaghetti Squash with Chile Verde (Photo from Anne Quinn Corr/ Longmont Observer)

Lucky’s Green Chile Sauce 

Makes about 4 ½ cups

  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil (I used olive oil)
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 packed cups of green chile, roasted, peeled, seeds removed, and finely diced (approximately 1 ½ pounds raw)
  • 2 tablespoons flour (all purpose or rice)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, to taste
  • 2 cups water

In a large saucepan, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft. While this is cooking, in a medium bowl, stir together the flour and the spices. Sprinkle this mixture over the onions and stir to coat. Add 1 cup of water to the mixture in the pan and stir to make sure the flour has dissolved. Add the green chile and the rest of the water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer for 15 minutes. Use within 3-4 days of freeze until needed. Enjoy!

For general interest:

In 1912 American chemist Wilbur Scoville devised a method of measuring the piquancy or heat of a pepper by dilution. Though inaccurate because it is subjective, this organoleptic test has become the standard measure of pepper pungency in SHU’s (Scoville Heat Units). Today, chromatography provides an accurate measure, but the measurements are then reported in Scoville units which are considered the standard.

Scoville rating

Type of pepper

1, 589, 300 Carolina Reaper
1, 041, 427 Ghost pepper
350,000–577,000 Red Savina Habanero
100,000–350,000
Habanero Chile, Scotch Bonnet
100,000–200,000 Jamaican Hot Pepper
50,000–100,000
Thai Pepper, Malagueta Pepper, Chiltepin Pepper
30,000–50,000
Cayenne Pepper, Ají pepper, Tabasco pepper
10,000–23,000 Serrano Pepper
7,000–8,000
Tabasco Sauce (Habanero)
5,000–10,000 Wax Pepper
2,500–8,000 Jalapeño Pepper
2,500–5,000
Tabasco Sauce (Tabasco pepper)
1,500–2,500 Rocotillo Pepper
1,000–1,500 Poblano Pepper
600–800
Tabasco Sauce (Green Pepper)
500–1000 Anaheim pepper
100–500 Pimento, Pepperoncini
0 No heat, Bell pepper