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It must be Fall

Here in New Mexico we take our green chili seriously. We love it. We talk about it endlessly, we await each new harvest with great anticipation, and then we do what we do, in our own special way when it's time to bring it home.

First, there is choosing the temperature. This process requires conferring with the local roaster, reading recent articles about the heat of this year's crop, then deciding which way to go. This year we got Hot, which, we were told, is really Medium Hot.

Second, there is the roasting. This requires waiting in line, usually in sweltering heat, while a sweaty roaster person dumps the chili in the roaster and begins the process. They adjust the flames a few times, monitor the progress of the roast, and when it's just right, they dump it into a plastic garbage bag they've put into a box, then twist the top of the bag shut, then hand it to you to take home and do with it what you wish.

Third, and this is where most of the variations occur, the chili is prepped for the freezer. Some people peel it all right then, chop it, then bag it. Some people just peel and seed it, then bag it. Some people just bag it, knowing that the peels will slip off easily after the freezing. We are in the third category, and we like to have a tequila toast before we begin bagging. It's an annual thing. Anyway, we buy a ton of freezer Ziplocs, (quart size), then fill them with chili, then let them cool on trays for a couple of hours before we put them in the freezer.

Fourth, and this is part of the awesomeness of the ritual, we make quesadillas using the fresh chopped chili, the filling of the moment, and nice tortillas. This we usually  consume with gusto, and make note of exactly what we think the temperature of this year's crop is as we enjoy the crispy, cheesy, chili filled yumminess. This year's crop is definitely toward the Hot end of Medium Hot, and it'll get a little hotter as it sits in the freezer. This we've learned from many years of reaching the end of the frozen chili, somewhere mid-summer, and finding that the Mild to Medium has become at least Hot during its stay in the deep freeze, a lesson that has, on more than one occasion, relieved my tongue of the first several layers of skin.

Fall is in the air, and with it the amazing, very New Mexico, aroma of chili roasting in countless roasters across the state. Needless to say, the salivary glands are in overdrive for weeks during this sacred annual ritual, and I believe that those of us who have grown up in this state mark the change of seasons by this, not by the calendar.

That's just how it is, you know?

Hugs,

Stevie


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