The Sandia pepper or Sandia chile pepper is a

New Mexico chile New Mexico chile or New Mexican chile (Scientific name: ''Capsicum annuum'' 'New Mexico Group'; es, chile de Nuevo México, ) is a cultivar group of the chile pepper from the US state of New Mexico, first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communitie ...

pepper

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

of the species '' Capsicum annuum'' with a scoville rating which ranges from mild to hot. This cultivar is extensively grown in New Mexico where it was developed and is popular in

New Mexican cuisine New Mexican cuisine is the cuisine of the Southwestern US state of New Mexico. The region is primarily known for its fusion of Pueblo Native American cuisine with Hispano Spanish and Mexican cuisine originating in Nuevo México. This cuisi ...

. Sandia peppers picked while still green are typically roasted to produce green chile. When ripened, this variety can be dried and ground to make chile powder. Sandia peppers grown and consumed in New Mexico are most commonly used to make red or green

posole Pozole (; from nah, pozoll, meaning ''cacahuazintle'', a variety of corn or maize) is a traditional soup or stew from Mexican cuisine. It is made from hominy with meat (typically pork, but possibly chicken), and can be seasoned and garnished w ...

, green chile stew, and carne adovada.

History

The Sandia chile pepper cultivar was developed at New Mexico State University by Dr. Roy Harper in 1956 by cross breeding a NuMex No. 9 (originally developed by Dr. Fabian Garcia) with a Californian Anaheim chile (itself a No. 9 descendant). This variety of chile pepper is of moderate heat and is widely grown and consumed in New Mexico. Sandia peppers are consumed both as green chile as well as ripe red chile, and are also dried into

ristra A ristra () is an arrangement of drying chile pepper pods, garlic bulbs, or other vegetables for later consumption. In addition to its practical use, the ristra has come to be a trademark of decorative design in the state of New Mexico as well as ...

s. They are considered high yielding with relatively large fruits. In common with most

cultivars, Sandia peppers are somewhat variable in their fruiting and produce individual peppers of varying heat, with most of the peppers being mild (5,000 SHU), and an occasional extremely hot pepper (30,000 SHU). Removing the seeds from the peppers before cooking or consuming them significantly reduces the heat of this variety of pepper.

References

{{New Mexico Capsicum cultivars Chili peppers Crops originating from North America Cuisine of the Southwestern United States Fruit vegetables Mexican cuisine

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Spices

History

See also

References