Red or Green

In Santa Fe when you order your meal at a restaurant, the server always asks "red or green?". You pick your chile sauce -- either green chile sauce or red, or you can order "Christmas" and get your meal smothered in both.

The only difference is whether the chiles used are unripe (green) or ripe (red). But it's the type of chile used that determines the taste and heat and essence of the sauce.

There are many chile varieties. Here are just a few, from hottest to mildest:

Habanero (hottest, used ripe)

Tabasco (the famous seasoning sauce is made from these)

Serrano (raw or pickled or roasted, spicy in salsa)

Anaheim (good for sauces)

DeArbol (little peppers, mostly dried when red
for wreaths, but hot and smoky taste)

Cayenne (best ground up into powder
and used in red hot sauces)

Sandia Hot (chile lover's standard)

Jalapeno (dark green, you know these)

Chimayo (local favorite for red sauce,
often hung dried in ristras)

Big Jim (yep.)
Large chile for rellenos - elongated cheese stuffed peppers

Poblano / Ancho (medium heat, good in everything)
Ripe and red they are dried and called ancho.
When green they are called poblano.

Shishito (good, skin and all, raw or roasted, these are mild for snacking)

There are many, many others, especially locally grown favorites, but you likely have heard of and eaten the ones above.

There is no "Hatch" chile variety, although Hatch chiles are much sought after. A Hatch chile is any type of pepper that is grown near Hatch, N.M. Usually it's a Sandia Hot or a hybrid cross between Sandia Hots and Big Jims or other popular varieties.

We are New Mexicans now, and we like our chiles. Jim bought a roaster. It's a sturdy metal grill that sits atop the gas flame on the burner. The house smells divine when he roasts poblanos.

For his red sauce he has an elaborate recipe involving onions and seasonings and the blender.

Commercial roasters pop up all over town in the fall in parking lots, on sidewalks, and at the farmer's market. They have huge rotating drums and hot coal fires and the air smells so good. Your eyes sting when you walk by.

I'm growing a small chile in a glass jar on the kitchen counter. It's both ornamental, as a houseplant, and edible -- some say it has a mild heat, others say very it's hot. It will be fun some day to pick peppers for supper.

Chile 'Candlelight' in a glass jar on my counter

Chile varieties have profiles like fine wines do -- typically each is evaluated based on:

Development - how rapidly the heat comes on, I like the ones that are delayed

Duration - whether it lingers flat or sharp on the tongue

Location - some hit the back of the throat, some activate the lips, some tingle mid palate, or move around

Feeling - how quickly or slowly the heat dissipates

We're getting good at these evaluations and we'll spend time at meals discussing where the heat is and how it lingers and whether it comes on quickly or not. You probably don't want to have many meals with us if you're looking for other conversation.

We're really way beyond "red or green?" now.