Wow, wtf. They shouldn't even be able to use the Hatch brand for that.
REAL MEXICAN CHILIES!*
^(*not grown in Mexico, and not real chilies. Made from compressed recycled Amazon boxes)
It’s a slippery slope. Next it’ll be“Canned using peppers grown in Pueblo”
It would all be better if Pueblo was part of NM like it should be. That should be the northern border and we should also have the San Luis Valley.
It's not slippery, it's full-on deceptive.
They use weasel wording on their page too… “ and most of the HATCH Select® branded green chiles are sourced from local chile growers near the Village of Hatch and throughout Southern New Mexico” (emphasis mine)
The processing chile market in New Mexico has been a dumpsterfire for a long time. It all starts out with them trying to maximize profits and minimize costs
New Mexico growers often plant F2 seed to save money on buying hybrid seed. When they do this the resulting crop is highly variable in yield and quality. So the processors never know how much product they will be able to use from one year to the next.
To buffer this issue they contract acres in other locations like Arizona, Mexico, and even Peru and Chile.
From the about me section of their website:
Welcome to the flavor of the Southwest
The Hatch Chile Company is a brand leader of superior quality New Mexican and Southwestern food products to the supermarket and grocery industry in the United States. Our products include green chile peppers, jalapeño peppers, enchilada sauces, and salsas. The HATCH® and HATCH Select® brands are currently distributed in supermarkets and small grocery stores in all fifty U.S. states.
Our company was founded in Albuquerque in 1987, and we are proud of our native roots and our ties to New Mexico.
We believe that the green chile peppers grown in Southern New Mexico are a treasure, and most of the HATCH Select® branded green chiles are sourced from local chile growers near the Village of Hatch and throughout Southern New Mexico.
Most is from Hatch and Surrounding areas.
When I lived in Maryland this was the only NM green chile I could get there. Or was few and far between however, and my mom would not send any to me because they grow some in Mexico.
Thanks for the input. I'll keep an eye out at local stores!
So I looked into this and my Hatch Diced Tomatoes with Green Chile say the same thing. "NOT GROWN IN NEW MEXICO".
I like their Red Enchilada Sauce and looked at the ingredients. It doesn't say the not grown in NM disclaimer, but red chile isn't even on the ingredient list. Ha. I guess it's covered under 'organic spices' which seems kind of shoddy. I guess I'll stick with legit NM brands which is too bad.
I checked my little tins of green chiles, they don't state the non-NM disclaimer. At least not the "hot" ones, I don't have and mild to check.
What brands do you recommend personally? I am limited, as I don't live in New Mexico, but I grab some NM chiles whenever I can.
Not canned at all, ideally. It tends to have a slight pickled taste. I’d suggest frozen chile if possible and if not that, jars. For frozen, most common is Bueño or Young Guns and they’re fine. For jars, most anything other than 505 is good. Young Guns also has big plastic bottles of chile. There’s a lot more variation in jarred sauce than just chopped roasted chile.
