It’s been 5 years since I first posted our tradition of putting up green chile for the freezer. Time to update and revisit my favorite time of year. It’s the time when the big trucks drive up, the roasters come out and they start to unload those fresh Green Chiles from The Land of Enchantment. It’s Green Chile season and I’m in heaven. I’ve lived away from NM over 20 years and other than my family, chile season is the time I miss most with the aroma of roasted chile in the air. There’s nothing like it and the chile is so delicious right after it’s been roasted. Several years ago they started bringing in truckloads of Hatch Chile to one of the grocery stores here in the Kansas City area and roasting it outside on the weekends. Always before I had to ask my family back home to please put up some chile in the freezer for me. They always came through but it’s really special to be able to put up my own and experience the aroma and taste firsthand. This year they were especially meaty and hot.
We weren’t sure when the Chile would arrive. There were no advertisements, but I knew that anytime between now and the end of August it would be here. So we drove the 30 minutes to the Price Chopper store and there it was, the roaster was out and there were boxes full of fresh Chile with that familiar Hatch logo. This here is our master roaster, he roasts chile to perfection.
Turn on the propane tank and watch the roaster spin!
All done, Mike scoops the chiles into the box into a garbage sized plastic bag before placing back in the box.
In the early years we could only get Las Uvas but now it’s Young Guns. When Young Guns says Hot,they mean HOT! Really love their chile.
They have instructions on the box.
We had a 30 minute drive to get back home so they’ve had the right amount of time to sweat it out.
I open up the sack and the steam rises up and the aroma fills the air.
Meanwhile, Joe’s been getting the Seal-a-Meal up and going. We used to package the chile in zip lock bags but over time they would freezer burn and I need them to last throughout the year until I can get more. The vacuum sealer works much better.
Our tradition is to set aside a couple of chiles to make quesadillas while we package up the chile for the freezer. So good with freshly roasted chile!
Time to put them into the bags. I put 4 – 5 chiles in each one.
Joe vacuum sealed them and set them aside.
While I was placing them in the bags, I would put aside the big meaty ones for Chile Rellenos or Flamethrowers.
I put aside 8 bags of the big chiles.
Back into the box they go on their way to the freezer. I put up 101 bags this year, plus another 8 bags of the big chiles.
Into the freezer they go. Be sure to look up my favorite green chile recipes under “Red or Green”.
8 thoughts on “New Mexico “Hatch” Green Chile”
Hazel Kelly
This is great info!!!! Thank you! Are you in Kansas City?
The company I work for, Frieda’s Inc., distributes some authentic NM Hatch Green Chiles to different supermarkets around the U.S., and we have some upcoming roasting events to share:
Detroit area – Kroger
http://www.friedas.com/Kroger/Hatch
Friday, Aug. 19
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Kroger – Northville 17447 Haggerty Rd.; (248) 662-3031
2 – 5 p.m.
Kroger – Plymouth, 44525 Ann Arbor Rd. West; (734) 414-8670
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Southern California – Ralphs Grocery
http://www.friedas.com/Hatch
Saturday August 20
10am-4pm
Ralphs, 11727 Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles CA (310) 473-5238
Ralphs, 5241 Warner Ave., Huntington Beach CA (714) 377-0024
Saturday August 27
10am-4pm
Ralphs, 13321 Jamboree Rd., Tustin CA (714) 544-0491
Ralphs, 3601 E. Foothill Blvd. Pasadena CA (626) 351-6572
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Louisiana – Rouses Markets
http://www.friedas.com/Rouses/Hatch
Sat. & Sun., Aug. 20-21
Rouses Markets – Houma, 1410 St. Charles St., (985) 851-3586
Rouses Markets -Thibodaux, 204 North Canal Blvd., (985) 446-3427
Rouses Markets -Youngsville, 2900 East Milton Ave., (337) 362-2814
Rouses Markets -Lafayette, 601 Bertrand Dr., (337) 889-0045
Sat. & Sun., Aug. 27-28
Rouses Markets -Metairie, 5245 Veterans Memorial Hwy., (504) 885-2022
Rouses Markets -New Orleans, 4500 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 896-7910
Rouses Markets -Metairie, 717 Clearview Parkway, (504) 828-8889
Rouses Markets -New Orleans, 400 North Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-2129
Sat. & Sun., Sep. 3-4
Mandeville, 3461 East Causeway Approach, (985) 727-7515
Slidell, 1644 Gause Blvd., (985) 646-2620
Metairie, 3711 Power Blvd., (504) 545-6807
New Orleans, 6600 Franklin Ave., (504) 284-7768
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Pittsburgh & Columbus – Market District
http://www.friedas.com/MarketDistrict
Aug. 26 – 28 (Friday, Saturday & Sunday)
Market District® Robinson – 100 Settlers Ridge Center Dr., Pittsburgh (412) 788-5392
Market District® Shadyside – 5550 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh (412) 681-1500
Market District® South Hills – 7000 Oxford Dr., Pittsburgh (412) 831-1480
Market District® Kingsdale – 3061 Kingsdale Center, Columbus, OH (614) 538-0762
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NativeNM
Yes, I am in the Kansas City area and just love being able to get Hatch Green Chile!
Thank you for sharing the information on upcoming Chile Roasts. It’s wonderful that you can distribute it to other areas around the US for everyone to enjoy.
Jan Cook (NativeNM)
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Daniel
Hi, I was wondering if you would recommend the Seal-a-Meal for green chile? It looks like it worked well for you looking at your pics. I was just concerned because I read that moist items didn’t seal very well. I’m looking to buy 4 or 5 bushels to last throughout the year and thought vacuum sealing is the way to go. Thanks for any info!
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NativeNM
I’m on my second “Food Saver” vacuum sealer now (it’s the small inexpensive one). The first one lasted several years but we used it a lot and put up about 70 pounds of green chile every August. From my experience the chile seals really well with the vacuum sealer and has a much longer freezer life. I haven’t had any freezer burn like you get sometimes get from zip lock bags. I think it’s well worth the expense, makes for quick work and easy clean up. Hope that helps! BTW, I’m really jealous I can’t be in NM right now to smell the roasting chile! Good luck!
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mjskitchen
I love this time of the year!!!! Chile is FINALLY starting to show up it so this weekend I’m headed to buy my first batch and fire up the grill. That’s one huge bag of chile you have there. 🙂 I use to freeze mine with the skin on also but then after a few years I tried removing the skin before freezing. Personally I like doing that better because when it comes out of the freezing it’s ready to go. Of course being semi-retired allows me the time to roast my own chile, peel and freeze. 🙂 Great post!
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NativeNM
Me too MJ! This is the time of year when I wish I was in NM to smell the chile. We are fortunate that Hatch chile has made it’s way to KC, and they even roast it at some grocery stores on the weekend so I don’t have to roast it myself. Good luck with your chile this weekend, I’m sure your kitchen will smell wonderful!
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Julia
Hi my name is Julia BARNES AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHERE I CAN PICK UP AT LEAST 2bags of Chile I’m from Colorado but a native of New Mexico just got stationed in Colorado
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NativeNM
Hi Julia, I’m not sure where you will find green chile in Colorado, but check with your local grocery stores including Sprouts and Trader Joe’s.. However in New Mexico we are seeing chile in our local grocery stores and they usually roast it on the weekends. When we lived in Kansas we could get NM green chile, it would be available in early August at grocery stores and in the last 10 years or so they would also roast on the weekends. You can order fresh green chile from the Hatch Chile Store at https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/collections/fresh-hatch-green-chile or from Chile Monster at chilemonster.com. Hope that helps!
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