Contrary to popular belief, chili didnt originate in India. Apparently for many years the pepper was mistakenly thought to have originated in India, and Christopher Columbus didnt help matters when he bungled his little voyage to the New World by calling his Caribbean landing India). Chili/chile pepper wasnt born in India, or even China. Ready for this? The chili/chile comes from our neighbor South America, most likely Bolivia. A little known fact is that George Washington was one of the earliest Americans to grow hot peppers (cayenne and bird peppers) at Mount Vernon, Virginia in 1785. Oddly, no mention of these peppers made the Martha Washington cookbook published around the same time. Back in 1896 New Mexico rancher Emilio Ortega returned to Ventura, California with some pepper seeds to start a new business. That pepper eventually became known as the Anaheim. Ortega would soon be known throughout that part of Southern California as the gentleman of green chili fame. Another pioneer of todays tremendous varieties of chili/chile is Fabian Garcia. Back in 1907, Garcia was a horticulturist at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, now New Mexico State University. He is known for developing a near perfect pod through interbreeding several different pods from the surrounding valleys. Eventually New Mexicans were calling these, tasty and quite hearty peppers, “Fabian Garcias. The chili/chile pepper has evolved into a mind-boggling number of distinct species and varieties, taking on various shapes and pungency, depending on the soil, rainfall and temperatures. It shows up in peanut-shaped (chili piquin), cherry-shaped cherry (cherry peppers), lantern-shaped (jabanero or habanero), dumpy and pointed (jalapeno), and of course the most common is the long and thin Anaheim. There are even more flavors than shapes.

Address: 2315 Hendola N.E.Albuquerque, NM 87110
Telephone: 505-217-2105
Website: http://www.nmchili.com/