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Tomatillos

May 3, 2012 By
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Chinese lanterns or edible fruit?

On our self-guided tour of the Fairview Gardens farm in Goleta California, we hiked past the squash and toward the figs when we encountered tomatillo plants. Seeing the mysterious balloons on the plant inspired the photo, and an explanation.

In the past, I had shied away from these husked morsels because I didn’t quite know what to do with them…I admit it, I feared them. Then I was introduced to tomatillos in a tamale cooking class, and I’ve been using them ever since. Sometimes it just takes an introduction to demystify an ingredient and open up a new avenue of cooking. Hopefully this post does just that.

Meet the Tomatillo (“Little Tomato” in Spanish)

Often referred to as a Mexican green tomato, the tomatillo is actually a cousin of the tomato in the nightshade family. It suits a low-sodium diet, with 0mg of sodium per half-cup serving. The intriguing part of the tomatillo is its paper-like green/brown husk, which gives it the look of a Chinese lantern. When peeled away, the fruit inside is revealed…and go figure, it looks like a light green tomato.

Although the fruit ripens to a yellow or purplish color, it is best used when green and firm. Like many crops these days, they can be available year-round, even though their primary season is from May through October.

Flavor and Uses

Tomatillos are a non-sweet fruit with a tart and earthy flavour. They are typically used in salsas, salads, and sauces. Some familiar dishes include chile verde (a delicious green chile stew) and green enchilada sauce.

Preparing Tomatillos

Tomatillos can be sliced and eaten raw, or cooked to soften and sweeten the flesh. Simply remove the husks, wash (they are slightly sticky under the husks), then slice, chop or cook according to your recipe.

Roasting Tomatillos

We prefer roasting tomatillos as a way of adding a smokier flavor to our dishes.  On the barbeque over medium heat, roast in a grill basket or directly on the grates, turning gently with tongs until blistered and soft around.  They can also be roasted under a broiler, on a stovetop comal or in a fry pan in a similar fashion.

Note: while cooking enhances the flavor and softens its skin, the cooked fruit tends to rupture and cave in. This makes for a not-so-pretty presentation. However, they’re great blended into sauces…try our deliciously low sodium chile verde recipe.

 

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Chile Verde Recipe – Green Chile Stew

May 3, 2012 By
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A Southwestern favorite with chicken and pork tenderloin. Great in a bowl or make chile verde burritos.

We’ve searched for the best chile verde in the West. Our search revealed no standard recipe for this bean-free green chili: different chefs, regions and families use different combinations of chiles and tomatillos.  The one common thread is that each and every chef (whether it’s an upscale restaurant or a home chef) takes pride in making their own “proprietary” version of chile verde.

In Southern California, mild green chiles are typically used. If you’re drawn towards the hotter realm, try New Mexico green chiles; or put your own stamp on it by using your favorites. We use mild Anaheim and medium Poblano’s, along with tomatillos in this recipe.

Notes and Substitutions:

    • Meat option: the most common meat used to make this delicious dish is pork shoulder, but we lower the fat and sodium by using a combination of chicken breast and pork tenderloin. The pork can be substituted with all chicken if desired.
    • Vegetarian option: replace meat with eggplant, zucchini, pumpkin, squash, mushrooms, hominy or other firm vegetables.
    • Serving suggestions: serve in a bowl with tortillas or bread, or make burritos with low-sodium refried beans.

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Chile Verde Recipe – Green Chile Stew

Yield: Serve 4

Chile Verde Recipe – Green Chile Stew

Ingredients

  • 6 large green chiles (4 Anaheim and 2 Poblano are used in this recipe)
  • 28 oz tomatillos (roughly 20 count)
  • 1 1/4 lbs pork tenderloin, sliced into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 Tablespoon grape seed oil or vegetable oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 bunch cilantro, chopped for garnish
  • Fat-free sour cream (optional)

Instructions

    Prepare Chiles and Tomatillos
  1. Roast, peel and de-seed the chiles (Instructions); and
  2. Roast the tomatillos.
  3. Puree prepared chiles and tomatillos in a food processor.
    4. Prepare the Chile Verde
  4. Add oil to Dutch oven and saute onion over medium heat until translucent; stir in garlic for roughly 1 minute.
  5. Transfer onion/garlic mixture to a bowl.
  6. Brown the meat – add cubed meat to the hot Dutch oven; stir occasionally until seared on all sides (about 8 minutes).
  7. Add chile/tomatillo puree, bay leaf and oregano to the Dutch oven; add the onion and garlic back in.
  8. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
  9. Remove bay leaf and enjoy.
http://lowsodiumblog.com/2012/05/chile-verde-recipe-green-chile-stew/

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Hot Apple Cider & Mulling Spices – A Great Low Sodium Gift Idea

November 29, 2011 By
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Make an easy, inexpensive and low-sodium holiday gift.

Cold weekend mornings set the mood to slow life down and savor the feeling of winter and the holidays. Sipping a hot cup of spiced apple cider is the icing on the cake. When visiting friends and relatives in places north, or “enduring” winter in Los Angeles, we can’t resist the taste and comforting aroma of this soul rejuvenating drink.

Hot apple cider is typically spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and citrus peel, exuding a warm and festive version of cider. Cider describes two different types of apple drinks, both of which differ from apple juice. First is simply the unfiltered and unsweetened juice of apples including pulp material; and the second is the fermented alcoholic version, “hard cider.” Hard cider is created when yeast causes fermentation of sugars to alcohol (a pint sounds pretty good right about now, or any time).

Apple juice, on the other hand, is filtered juice with no pulp or sediment. Some commercial juices are sweetened, while real apple cider is not. Commercially produced ciders and juices are pasteurized due to past incidents of E. Coli. However, juice from juice bars and farm stands does not have to be pasteurized (something to be mindful of, especially if you are immuno-compromised).

Purveyors of apple cider often combine different types of apples to balance the sweet vs acidic flavors, attempting to make the perfect batch. The competition can get pretty fierce for the best tasting cider blend. Perhaps you can find a winner to use for your spiced cider. For our drink, we’re going to cheat a little and use a popular brand of pure, unsweetened apple juice…we’ll still call it hot apple cider just because it sounds better than hot apple juice.

Make Your Own Mulled Spices
This easy recipe allows you to simply scoop out the spice mix and peel an orange whenever you want to make hot apple cider. It makes a creative gift idea too. We recommend purchasing the spices from an ethnic/Indian market in quantity for best value.

Yield: 1 jar or tin (approximately 4oz).

Ingredients & Directions for Mulled Spice Mix
2 Tablespoons allspice berries (0.3 oz)
2.5 Tablespoons whole cloves (0.8oz)
16 Cinnamon sticks (3” sticks) broken up into 2 ore more pieces each (2.8 oz).

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and add to your containers. We purchased the tin shown from an art supply store, which had plenty of neat container ideas.

Note: to calculate the quantity of ingredients to purchase for  several tins, multiply the weight of each ingredient by the number of tins you want to make. For example, two tins would require .6oz of allspice berries, 1.6oz of cloves, and 5.6oz of cinnamon sticks. Have fun!

Hot Apple Cider Recipe Using Mulled Spice Mix

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

16 oz apple cider or juice

Orange peel of 1/2 a medium orange

2 Tablespoons mulled spices

Cheesecloth, large tea infuser or strainer

 

Directions

1)      Pour the apple juice or cider into a large stainless steel saucepan.

2)      Add mulled spices and orange peel to a large tea infuser, cheesecloth (tied to make a sack), or add all ingredients directly to the juice (to be strained after heating).

3)      On medium heat, simmer for 15 minutes.

4)      Remove ingredients and ladle the hot apple cider into serving cups or mugs.

For added effect, serve with a cinnamon stick in each cup. Now light the fire or play your fireplace DVD and enjoy the sweet warmth and cinnamon scent of your apple cider.

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Autumn Vegetable Roast with Apples, Fennel & Brussels Sprouts

November 9, 2011 By
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A refreshing alternative from heavy holiday eating.

As autumn sneaks up on us, so does the season of eating. If you’re seeking a tasty dish that captures the essence of the fall, or if you are looking for an inspiring vegetarian Thanksgiving platter, read on. Our marinated autumn vegetables can be a meal for two or a side dish for many. It can also be enjoyed with poultry, Salmon or Branzino

The line-up features fennel bulb, Brussels sprouts and apple. The marinade is lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, thyme and oregano (the lemon juice also helps the apples retain their natural brightness). Colorful and delicious, the light green hues are balanced by the red apple, which also adds a complimentary sweetness to the mélange. As the fennel roasts, the festive scent awakens the senses and could lure your family and guests off of the couch and into your kitchen.

Preparation note: the lemon marinade is intended to be used just before cooking. Extended marinating has a tendency to make the dish somewhat tart.

Print
Autumn Vegetable Roast with Apples, Fennel & Brussels Sprouts (low sodium)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Yield: Serves 4

Autumn Vegetable Roast with Apples, Fennel & Brussels Sprouts (low sodium)

Ingredients

  • 12 small to medium Brussels sprouts, trimmed
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 medium fennel bulbs, tops removed, sliced top-bottom into quarters then once more into 1/8’s
  • 2 apples, cored and divided into 8 pieces (red variety such as Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisps)
  • ½ cup pecan halves, roasted separately

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F
  2. Pre-cook the Brussels sprouts by steaming for 8 minutes. Set aside until cool to the touch.
  3. Combine all of the ingredients (except the pecans) into a plastic bag. Shake to coat the veggies and marinate for 20 minutes.
  4. Remove vegetables from the bag and place in a casserole dish. Bake 25-30 minutes, stirring half-way through. (Roast the pecans in a separate cooking vessel, so they don’t get soggy from the roasted vegetables/juices).
  5. Toss together and serve.
http://lowsodiumblog.com/2011/11/autumn-vegetable-roast-with-apples-fennel-brussels-sprouts/

 

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How to Make Prickly Pear Cactus Juice (or Syrup/Recipe)

October 16, 2011 By
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Prickly pear cactus (opuntia) juice/syrup adds a delicious low sodium zing to favorite libations (iced tea, margarita), or as part of a dish.

No matter what the color (variety) making prickly pear juice is actually a very straightforward process, far less daunting than one would expect.  If you want to know more about prickly pears, we’ve been blogging about them all week: The Prickly Pear: Opuntia Ficus-Indica and Touring Tucson, Arizona: Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert.

In keeping with Andrew Wilder’s October Unprocessed challenge, we’ve provided instructions on how to make a fresh completely unprocessed version, and one that can be used for longer term storage. Either way, it’s really yummy!

Ingredients List – Varies based on intended uses

Juice

  • A minimum of 10 good-sized prickly pear cactus fruit (opuntia) to make a usable yield of fresh nectar. We purchased ours from a local farmer already “de-thorned”.  If you intend to pick your own and are eying the cactus fruit that happen to grown on state owned land, you may need to obtain a special permit to do so (National Parks are off limits).
  • The easiest way to preserve the juice is to split up the batch and freeze in smaller quantities, eliminating the need for all of these extra ingredients.  I personally think this method is the best — keeping in mind that we rarely use added sweeteners (sugar, evaporated cane juice, agave, etc.)  when we cook.

Syrup
In addition to the above, to make a fresh syrup (intended for same day consumption): sugar.  We use the same ratio as a simple syrup, and it varies depending upon the desired thickness:

  • for a thin syrup: 3 parts water, 1 part evaporated cane juice (sugar)
  • for a medium syrup:  2 parts water to 1 part evaporated cane juice (sugar)
  • for a thick syrup:  equal parts water to evaporated cane juice (sugar)

For those occasions when we don’t intend to use the juice within a couple of weeks, we’ve added a combination of evaporated cane juice (sugar), lemon or lime juice (or in a more concentrated form, citric acid).   Our personal goal is to make sure that the overall pH of our syrup is lower than 4.2* (so we don’t accidentally give ourselves food poisoning).

*Note that the combination of evaporated cane juice (sugar), lemon/lime juice or citric acid may well vary from batch to batch:  the combination of food preservation aids are relative to both taste and the pH of the fruit on hand.  We sterilize small canning jars and “can” them in small proportions (this blog post does not go into the mechanics of canning safety, how to can or preserve or make a jelly.)

Instructions – How to make prickly pear cactus juice

  • Peel the prickly pears, being mindful of the prickles.  Cut both ends off the pear:
  • Score an incision across the length of the pear.  This provides a starting point. Carefully roll the fruit along the length of the rind, peeling back the entire skin. Scoop out the middle, flesh (this is the part we’ll be using).

  • Cut the flesh into smaller pieces and place into a pot.  Fill the pot with water, allowing the water to cover the flesh (I usually leave an extra inch, or a little less, of water at the top).
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes, being mindful that there is enough water in the pan to allow it to boil.  Once the flesh has become soft, I use a potato masher to help loosen the flesh from the seeds during the cooking process:  I think this yields a better flavor.  If the water has evaporated and is no longer covering the fruit, add a little more water.
  • Continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
  • Once we’ve felt that we’ve achieved the desired flavor, we place a bowl under a strainer and strain the seeds through a sieve (the seeds will be discarded), saving the juice or honey.
  • At this point, if we want to make a syrup, put the liquid back into the pan, and add the evaporated cane juice (sugar), citric acid/lemon or lime juice, and pectin and heat until the liquid has thickened.

  • If we’re are not planning to add anything extra, we quickly cool the liquid by using ice bath , or some kind of immersion cooling method.  Once the liquid has cooled down, place in clean storage containers, and refrigerate immediately.
  • Remember, we used the ice bath method in our “rice cream” social post to make lavender r-ice cream:

and voilà, our fresh juice to enjoy!   (Note:  we used more than 10 prickly pears).

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Baked Chile Rellenos with Chicken Picadillo Recipe

September 9, 2011 By
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A mouthwatering experience highlighting Latin American flavors.  Make a delicious picadillo and pair with a low sodium tomato sauce.  Delicious!Did you know that chile rellenos literally means “stuffed peppers” in Spanish? Yep, and while they’re typically filled with cheese, they can be made with just about any ingredients a person can dream up. We even know of a James Beard award-winning chef in Tucson who makes Foie Gras Peppers (great idea, but not really “low sodium”).

Our recipe is more “accessible”: it uses ground chicken, which is easily substitutable with your choice of ground meat or favorite vegetarian combination. The stuffing, or picadillo, is a traditional Latin American dish of ground meat with tomatoes, onions and other ingredients — the flavor combinations vary by region and family tradition. Picadillo is usually served with rice or used as a stuffing, as in the case with chile rellenos.

Most people think of chile rellenos that have been deep-fried in batter: we prefer baking rather than frying…not just because it’s a healthier and easier choice, but because the flesh of the chili has a flavor and texture that’s really enjoyable on its own. Additionally, we recommend serving the rellenos over a bed of warm low sodium tomato sauce, a style that is popular in Oaxaca, Mexico. They also go well with re-fried beans and tortillas if you prefer.

Note: there are three components in the making of chile rellenos: preparing the chile peppers, cooking the picadillo, and stuffing and baking the final product. By eliminating the deep-frying, we’ve simplified the process, and it’s quite achievable. We also recommend following Mexican tradition and enjoying the preparation experience with others.

Serving suggestions: this recipe uses poblano [a.k.a. pasilla] peppers, which can sometimes be spicy. If you prefer a milder flavor, we recommend using Anaheim peppers.

Yield: 8 chile rellenos. Serves 4 people

Ingredients

8 whole poblano peppers for roasting and stuffing

1 additional fresh poblano pepper for the picadillo – de-stemmed, de-seeded and diced into ½ inch pieces

1 cup of yellow onion, diced into ½ inch pieces

1 teaspoon of minced garlic (2 cloves)

2 tablespoon of cooking oil

1 cup diced of Roma tomatoes (4 tomatoes)

1 teaspoon of oregano

½ teaspoon of ground black pepper

½ teaspoon of ground cumin

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 lb ground of chicken, turkey or beef

¼ cup of raisins

2 cups of low sodium tomato sauce (optional)

 

Directions

1.    Roast, peel and de-seed 8 poblano peppers (see Roasting, Peeling and De-seeding Chile Pepper article).

2.    Prepare the picadillo filling.

a.  In a large non-stick skillet or Dutch-oven:

i.    Add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat over medium.

ii.    Add onion, garlic and poblano pepper and sauté until onion is translucent, about 4 minutes.

iii.    Add tomato and sauté until the chile pepper pieces are soft, about 4 minutes.

iv.    Transfer vegetable mixture into separate bowl.

 

b.  In a large non-stick skillet or Dutch-oven:

i.    Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the oregano, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon and heat over medium.

ii.    Add ground chicken, breaking it apart it into small pieces; stir until cooked, about 6 minutes (make sure no pink meat is visible). Pour off any excess fat.

iii.    Add the raisins and the cooled vegetable mixture; combine.

iv.    Cook on low heat for approximately five more minutes, stirring frequently.

 

c.  Set the picadillo mixture aside (to briefly cool off) for stuffing the peppers.

3.  Stuffing and Baking Chiles

a.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

b.  Place roasted, peeled, de-seeded chilies on a baking sheet, sprayed with non-stick oil.

c.  Scoop about two tablespoons of picadillo into each pepper, being careful not to over stuff (the flesh should be able to close when pulled together).

d.  Fasten chile rellenos closed by inserting a toothpick through both sides of the opening; one near the upper-middle of the pepper and one near the bottom.

e.  Bake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees F.

4.  Heat the tomato sauce.

5.  Serving:  place the baked chile relleno on a bed of warm low sodium tomato sauce.

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In & Around Santa Fe, New Mexico

September 6, 2011 By
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Today’s post is primarily pictorial, and highlights the beautiful city/landscape we saw in and around Santa Fe, NM.
Santa Fe Farmer’s Market: Fresh & Roasted Chiles.

Georgia O’Keeffe country – stunning

Chaco Culture National Historical Park – UNESCO World Heritage Site

 

Bandelier National Monument

climb ladders

View from top.  Some people (like me) who get vertigo from time to time — don’t fare well with this type of arrangement.  I stayed below, but Jeff went up.

(we took these photos prior to the June 26, 2011 fire, which burned over 60% of the parks’ landscape, consult the nps.gov website for more details)

We unfortunately did not take any photos (2 cameras with dead batteries) from our class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, but really enjoyed the class.

Chimayo Chiles – you can read more about our adventures in Chimayo here

El Santuario de Chimayo

 

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Chile Peppers: To “E”, or not to “E”, that is the question.

September 2, 2011 By
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There’s a heated debate in the chile pepper world…what you think? Take our Poll.

When writing our post on how to roast chiles, someone pointed out that some dictionaries spell chile as chili, ending in an “I” — though, we’ve often seen chile references that end in an “E”.  Occasionally, we’ve noticed that the spelling sometimes even flip flops within the same sentence (as we’ve done on purpose, to satisfy different preferences).  We realized that we’d inadvertently stumbled upon a heated debate – to “E”, or not to “E”, that is the question.

What’s behind the spelling variants?

Chile with an “E”

Chile with an “e” is the “raw”, non-translated version of the same word of 17th Century Mexican Spanish origin.   Later, in 1965, the state of New Mexico, whose cuisine revolves around its famous Hatch chile peppers, adopted the chile as a state vegetable.   We also noticed that the New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute defines the chile as anything consisting of the Capsicum plant or the fruit from the plant.

Chili with an “I”

Widely used in the U.S, the dictionaries we referenced (Merriam Webster’s and Oxford) indicate that chili is appropriate and chile is a variant. Additionally, chili with an “i” has evolved as a contemporary urban reference to the dish chili con carne (chili with meat, as in a bowl of chili).

To note a distinction between the fruit and the dish, chile pepper aficionados tend to spell it with an “e” when referring to the fruit, and use chili (“i”) when referring to the dish.

Either way, we love chile peppers because they are low in sodium, flavorful, and a highly diverse ingredient.   Hatch it up!!

What do you think — Chile or chili pepper?  Take our poll and let us know your thoughts!

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[gravityform id=2 name=Whatdo you think? What spelling do you use??]

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Roasting, Peeling and De-seeding Chile Peppers

August 31, 2011 By
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Loaded with flavor and low in sodium…a winning combination!

There are two general steps to preparing roasted chiles: General Chile Roasting Instructions; and Peeling, De-seeding and De-stemming Chiles.

However, if you are making chile rellenos, you’ll want to follow these steps:  General Chile Roasting Instructions; and Preparing Chiles for Rellenos.

 

General Chile Roasting Instructions

While some recipes call for fresh peppers, other such as chile rellenos, salsas and stews often use roasted chiles. Roasting chiles softens and sweetens the flesh, adds a nice smoky flavor, and makes them easy to peel. We suggest two methods for roasting: on the grill and in the oven broiler.

1. Roasting Chiles on a Grill

a) Pre-heat the grill (medium-high heat).

b) Wash the chile pods. Cut a small slit near the stem: this creates a vent for the steam to escape.

c) Place the chiles directly on the grill, turning occasionally with tongs until blistered around (charring is ok).

d) Remove the peppers from the grill. Place in a plastic bag, allow to steam and cool for 30 minutes. You can also put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a plate to steam and cool.

 

2. Roasting Chiles in a Broiler*

a)      Wash the chile pods. Cut a small slit near the stem: this creates a vent for the steam to escape.

b)      Place the chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet; slide the chiles into the oven, placing them on the rack directly under the broiler/heat element. (If using an electric oven, you may need to keep the door slightly open; in some ovens, the heat element can turn off if the oven reaches a certain temperature.)

c)       When the peppers have “blistered” on top, slide the rack out and turn the chiles with tongs; the goal is to roast all sides evenly (again, charring is ok).

d)      Remove the chiles from the oven and place in a plastic bag or covered bowl to steam and cool for 30 minutes.

 

2.a Peeling, De-seeding and De-stemming Chiles*

For most recipes, the only part of the chile that is used is the chile’s flesh; discard the stems (unless you want to keep them for visual aesthetics) and seeds. Note, the hottest part of the pepper is the white pith of placental tissue that holds the seeds (not the seeds themselves). This is where the highest concentration of capsaicin is found – the substance that gives chiles their heat. To reduce the heat level, you can remove the veins/ribs from the inner wall.

a)    Gently peel away the skin, rinsing with running water to remove remaining bits or char (if desired). We like to leave some char on to add flavor to the dish.

b)    To remove the stem and seeds, simply slice around the edge of the stem and pull it away from the pod. Then slice the pepper from top to bottom, fold open and remove remaining seeds.

*Note: we recommend using gloves just to avoid direct hand to eye contact after handling the chiles (if capsaicin is on your fingers, it can cause temporary burning of the eyes).

 

2.b Preparing Chiles for Rellenos

For chile rellenos, the pepper should be kept whole and remove only the seeds.

a)      Slice from the top to the tip on one side, leaving the stem and tip intact.

b)      Gently open the pepper with the knife and your fingers.

c)       Using kitchen shears or a paring knife, cut the seedpod out just above the seed line, or gently scoop out with a spoon.

d)      Cut any strands as you pull the seedpod out, as they could tear the pepper. Remove the rest of the seeds with a spoon and your fingers (it is ok if a few seeds remain).

 

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Revered New Mexican Chimayo Chilies and El Santuario de Chimayo

August 22, 2011 By
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We wanted to understand why the Chimayo chilies are so special, so we sought out the answer on a small organic farm to see what all the hype is about (and discovered El Santuario de Chimayo along the way).
Pictured above: Ristras are primarily made to keep (dry) chili pods but are also commonly used for decoration.

Chimayo is about 30 minutes by car, north of Santa Fe — it’s a spot you wouldn’t expect to find, a hidden pocket of valley “lushness” in the middle of semi-desert landscape.

Among many other things (aside from the chilies), Chimayo is better known for El Santuario de Chimayo: many people credit this site as being a miraculous “healing” center – its’ a place where many visitors swear that the sacred dirt has “spiritual and physical curative powers”.

Enough people seem to believe in the Sanctuary’s special healing powers that it’s inspired a long line of people making pilgrimages on foot each year (…and we’re not just talking about the pilgrimage from the car to the chapel – an estimated 300,000 people pilgrimage each year to Chimayo’s Santuario).  While we did feel at peace while we were there (there weren’t any other tourists there during our chapel visit, lucky us!), but unfortunately — we didn’t see any miracles of light.

What we did see in action, in the general area, were the “ancient” water ducts – an extensive (man-made) system of autonomous acequias (irrigation ditches) that serve as the primary means of irrigation to the Chimayo valley farms.  The water comes from three high mountain streams — the Rio Quemado, Rio En Medio and Rio Frijoles.

Many of the local farmers have specific watering days in which they can flood/water.  These farm plots and many of the native Chimayo chile seeds are part of a longstanding tradition, passing articles down from one generation to the next: the seeds and the special growing conditions (intense heat, and then short periods of flooding/irrigation)  create unique growing conditions, ideal for chili growth and flavor.

The chiles are at first green colored;  they slowly turn color the longer they stay on the vine, morphing from green to green/orange (commonly referred to by the locals as “Christmas” colored), and eventually the chiles end up a deep red color:

This year’s farm tour is scheduled for August 28th, and is coordinated by the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market

 

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