The Fresh Chile Company Podcast

When it comes to commercially grown chile peppers, there is a special label Hatch Chile. Some people think Hatch Chile is a specific variety of chile peppers like Big Jim or Sandia chile. It is not. Rather, Hatch chile reflects the place in Southern New Mexico where very tasty chile peppers are grown. Hatch Chile only describes the unique Hatch Valley grown chile peppers. There is even more to con...

Today, January 6, 2025, is the 113th anniversary of New Mexico becoming a state. It was a Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Washington, D. C. when President William Howard Taft signed the statehood bill officially making New Mexico the 47th state in the United States. I want to talk about people who were there in 1912. Love this Podcast? Check out our website at The Fresh Chile Company . Also, check us ou...

New Mexico is so big that you could make at least four other states out of our size. And we are in the unique touching three other states at the Four Corners spot. Tourist love to put one foot in one state, one hand in another, their other foot in another and if they don’t fall over, which does happen with laughter, the final hand in a fourth state. Let’s take a tour of New Mexico, a quick tour at...

Wherever you live some of the streets and some of the areas of New Mexico are named after real people. They are called Place names since the place, be it a New Mexico county, town, street or some other descriptor is tied to a real person’s name. Example: Deming New Mexico is named for the wife of a railroad executive in the 1880s. We have lots of place names of real people in New Mexico. Love this...

New Mexico chile peppers always get lots of attention for the hot that they have and not appropriately for the more important outstandingly wonderful taste. The first thought most people have looking at just harvested green chile peppers is the heat, the burn, the sensation of chile peppers in the mouth. But what is more important is that they are also outstandingly delicious along with just the r...

There are websites that show people having a difficulty like falling off a ladder amid a Hollywood laugh track. The New Mexico version is when I ask people about their first bite of New Mexico chile peppers. Usually, it involves some discomfort. We do know when and why chile peppers are hot. It is a fact that the same seemingly hot chile peppers to some people seem not hot enough to other people....

When visitors come to New Mexico, one topic of discussion is our delicious chile peppers in foods like enchiladas. Our chile is a treat as long as to the visitor it is not too hot. It is always uniquely flavorful. That is chile with an e, not chili with an i, chilly in winter nor the country of Chile five thousand miles to the south. The very robust New Mexico chile industry did not happen by acci...

In 1985 there was a poster on the wall of a restaurant in Las Cruces that caused me to smile. “On this spot 100 years ago, nothing happened.” Actually, in the then New Mexico territory in Las Cruces, a lot was happening for everyone. What was a daily task for citizens? Finding and cooking food. Let’s talk about some Old Time New Mexico food and how it was prepared. Love this Podcast? Check out our...

Today is 2024 Veteran’s Day, a national holiday celebrating the men and women who have or are serving in the military. Don’t confuse Veteran’s Day with Memorial Day which honors American service members who died in the service of their country. We want to celebrate the about 150,000 Veterans in New Mexico, and their families. We bless them all today. Love this Podcast? Check out our website at The...

When I go outside in Las Cruces I look up and see airplanes. Little ones, big ones, those with propellors or jet engines along with helicopters. In 1916, airplanes came suddenly to New Mexico. They didn’t fly here, they took a train from San Antonio, Texas to Columbus, NM. The Army’s first military airplanes found out the effect of New Mexico’s spring winds.  Love this Podcast? Check out our websi...

Over the years many creatures have walked over New Mexico lands. Buffalo, Elk, Antelopes, Deer, Bighorn Sheep, Cattle, Horses, Mules, Goats, but there was an animal that caused locals to wonder if they were dreaming. In the 1850s the U. S. Army brought some Middle Eastern Camels to the southwest. Here is the story of Army Camels being used in New Mexico. Love this Podcast? Check out our website at...

New Mexico and Arizona have an entwined history. They started as one entity, the U. S. Territory of New Mexico in 1850. In that entity from Hobbs to Yuma and northward was all New Mexico. New Mexico and Arizona became separate territories in 1862 and then states in 1912 within six weeks of each other. The history of Arizona and New Mexico are connected. Love this Podcast? Check out our website at...

New Mexico is known worldwide as the Land of Enchantment. It has a magnificent daytime and nighttime captivating countryside with beautiful vistas day or night. Half the great views you can see by - looking up. The sky above New Mexico is wonderful day and night. In the daytime you can see the Sun at a fun place to visit named the Sunspot Solar Observatory. Love this Podcast? Check out our website...

I want to talk about the chile of old such as the Old West Southwestern chile and then the future of chile. I even want your views on what combination of flavors that isn’t being done right now could be the next big chile innovation since chile is now part of a many flavors such as Hatchup, the Hatch Valley red chile and ketchup. I will confess that I put green or red or the blend of green and red...

I spend some mornings at a wonderful coffee shop telling stories. Most of the stories might be true. It is lovely to drink coffee and laugh with friends. Without water we wouldn’t have coffee nor green chile. I love the Rio Grande. Today’s podcast has a little of this and that stories. When you hear people talking about how the West was won, it was not with guns, though they were important. Rather...

I am told that an Iceberg is 10 percent visible and 90 percent below the water line. Las Cruces hasn’t seen an Iceberg in forever, except in Hollywood movies. What is the commonality of Icebergs and Las Cruces and most towns in New Mexico? What you see, the roads, buildings and houses are only a part of the entire story of building Las Cruces. When I was a little boy, my grandfather’s ranch south...

I had an interesting question from someone: “Why is everyone so taken by chile?” Most of us were born here in New Mexico and do not remember a time when we were not eating chile peppers. Yes, we had baby food, but then came green and red chile. We loved it. Let’s explore why people here and all over the world find New Mexico chile so very great. And it is great. There are facts about New Mexico ch...

When you see a new chile pepper salsa at the Fresh Chile Company, you know this didn’t happen by accident. It took lots of work and innovation to invent, yes, invent a new salsa. Well now there is a new one and I will tell you about what it took to create Randy’s Salsa. Fresh Chile Company owner Randy McMillan wanted to have a salsa with larger chunks and wanted to use a chile pepper variety, Mata...

It was with sadness that I learned on Wednesday that former NMSU, St. Louis Cardinals and Denver Bronco quarterback Charley Johnson has passed at age 85. It wasn’t his intention to leave Texas and come to New Mexico. A couple things happened. He was raised in Big Spring, Texas. A super athlete in high school, he intended to play football in college. One problem: he got a football scholarship to Sc...

In New Mexico we have what I’m going to call the New Mexico grown chile pepper plant. It’s central to our identity. We go to restaurants for their chips and salsa. The question: red or green is answered in New Mexico as both, in a blend, The official smell of New Mexico is roasting green chile. We have many chile peppers. There’s secrets of New Mexico chile. Love this Podcast? Check out our websit...

This weekend is the 52nd annual Hatch Chile Festival in Hatch, New Mexico the Chile Capital of the world. Saturday and Sunday, August 31 and September 1st the small Southern New Mexico town will be brimming with good food, good people and good times. Learn about chile pepper tastes and different ways that the chile can be prepared. Be prepared for fun and YUM. But as you enjoy the ambrosia of chil...

With some New Mexico towns and cities only the name is needed, not having to say, New Mexico. Example: Albuquerque, where there is no need for New Mexico. But some, like Las Vegas, need New Mexico or some people will make a 700-mile geographical error and an even worse cultural assumption. And Las Vegas, New Mexico was a booming town long before the first building was built in Nevada. Let's t...

New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment and Mystery. There is no greater mystery than the 1896 disappearance and obvious death of Albert Jennings Fountain and his 8-year-old son Henry. This is the third of three podcasts about Albert Fountain and this mystery that has gone on from February 1st, 1896 to today. Who killed Albert and his son Henry Fountain? Love this Podcast? Check out our website at T...

In the last Enchanting Stories Podcast I talked about 15-year-old Jim White who discovered and explored and over the years promoted Carlsbad Caverns. Several people were surprised to find a 15-year-old was working on a cattle ranch. The Child Labor laws of 1938 set the early age at 14. Before that we had even younger boys working in New Mexico. And it wasn’t all bad. Youngsters did work in New Mex...

Once upon a time in the territory of New Mexico a 15-year-old cowboy was riding by himself looking for stray cattle. It was 1897. He is one of many youngsters in New Mexico history that changed our state, and we still remember him. This one teenage cowboy made a big change in New Mexico by himself. Teenagers are part of our New Mexico history, especially Jim White. We don't remember him as a...