The VOLUME VII, NUMBER 4, WINTER 199811999

Chile Pepper Institute N E W S L E T T E R http://www.nmsu.edu/-hotchile/index.html E-mail: hotchile@nrnsu.edu

Gene Jefferies' Latin American Adventures

The responsibilities are many for the director of agri- cultural operations of the McIlhenny Company. Fortu- nately for McIlhenny and the chile industry, the director is Gene L. Jefferies.

Jefferies grew up on a farm , and cattle ranch in Arizona,

graduated from Arizona ~ t a k University and completed his master's degree in agri- cultural economics at the Uni- versity of Arizona. Prior to moving to Louisiana, he lived in Brazil for five years and in Venezuela for seven years, working in agricultural re- search and development for the U.S. Peace Corps, U.S.

Agency for International Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

As McIlhenny's director of agricultural op- erations, Jefferies is responsible for supervis- ing all of the company's chile production in the United States and seven countries in Latin America. This involves overseeing seed pro- duction at Avery Island, monitoring chile qual- ity and providing technical assistance at the

overseas locations and managing pepper mash shipments to the United States.

"Gene's travels and adventures have made him a great leader with

worldlv experience."

Jefferies' work has taken him many places, including Colombia, Honduras, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Dominican Republic. He relates that he feels safe while traveling. However, he does recall several frightening incidents.

He and George Baker, an American farmer who grows chile for the McIlhenny Com- pany, had spent several days overseeing the fields and had to travel from Venezuela to Colombia. Jefferies recalls that they were running late and had to take a bus to Cucuta. It was getting dark and they had to cross a river, carrying heavy suitcases, briefcases and cameras, in order to catch the bus on the other side. Because they were the last people on the bus, they had to sit in the back. About 3 miles from town, the bus picked up a young man carrying a 4- to 5 month- old baby. The young man sat at the back of

Continued on page 2.

Jefferies' Adventures, continuedfrom page 1.

the bus with Baker and Jefferies. As the bus began traveling, it slowed down because of a curve. At that point, a motorcycle pulled up beside the bus and a man on the motor- cycle handed a shotgun through the win- dow to the young man with the baby. The young man began loading the shotgun and dropped some bullets. Baker picked them up and handed them to him. "At this point, what else could he do?" Jefferies asked. As they continued traveling, the young man fell asleep and almost dropped the baby. Baker reached out to grab the baby in case it should fall. Meanwhile, the shotgun was pointing at Jefferies. Every time the bus hit a bump, Jefferies was afraid the gun would go off. He suffered through this ordeal for over 3 hours, not knowing the young man's intentions or whether he was asleep or only pretending to sleep. "That was the longest 3-1 /2 hours in my life," Jefferies said.

The last trip he made to Haiti was on a small twin-engine plane from Miami to Cap Haitien. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight with no bathroom! After two days in Haiti, Jefferies' work was done and he had to reach the Dominican Republic border by 5 p.m.- before the official who stamps passports left for the day. "You do not want to spend the night in Quanaminte," he said. Jefferies was riding in an old pick-up truck. Twenty miles from the border, he had his third flat tire of the day. He managed to flag down a "Tap-Tap," a Haitian bus designed to carry 15 passengers. This one had 10 people riding on the roof, but Jefferies joined the 30 or so

passengers riding inside. Five miles from the border town of Quanaminte, he had to get off the bus for a passport check. The bus continued on without him. Jefferies then flagged down a motorcycle for the mad dash to the border on an atrocious road-he could envision himself falling off and breaking his neck. He was anxious to get out of this "no-man's land" where no English or Spanish is spoken, but only the Haitian French "Patois."

Jefferies tells of a near disastrous airplane experience in Venezuela traveling from Barinas to Caracas. On take-off from an'in- termediate stop, one of the plane's engines failed. The pilot managed to turn the plane around for landing, but without being able to use the braking system of the failed en- gine, he had to slam on the wheel brakes. When the plane finally came to a stop about 50 yards from the end of the runway, the brakes and landing gear on the side of the plane were on fire.

Jefferies said that in all of his travels he has never felt threatened except for the shotgun incident. During a two-year period in the 1980s, he did not travel to Colombia because of the violence.

"Gene's travels and adventures have made him a great leader with worldly experience," said Paul Bosland, director of the Chile Pepper Institute. "He offers new insights and has been instrumental in the globalization of chile. If you ever see a miniature bottle of Tabasco, you will know that Gene has been there." W

Editor's note: In the last issue of the Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter, the cowr story featured chiles in China. Inadvertentiy, the map used with this story did not include Tibet. This was an error on our part and was not meant to offend anyone. We apologize for any negative feelings this may have caused, 4

The Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter mu1 w. B O S I ~ ~ , Director Rena lmmhga, Chphic Designm/Editar Danise Coon. Adminismtive Assistant Lilly Domingua. Contributing Editor Rinted af NMSU Agri l tural Communications

The Chile Pepper Institute NMSU, Box 30003, MSC 34, Las Cruces, NM 88003 (505) 646-3028 E-mail: hotchi le@~u.& World Wide Web site:

h t t p J h w . n m u a d d ~ I d i n d u . h t m l A NOR-Profik Inmnacional Organiaion Devoted to

Ibc study of Capsicum

The Chile Pepper Institute Board of Directors Emma Jean Cervantcs, Chair, k a n t e s Enterprises,

Inc., Vado. NM Louis Biad, Biad Chile Co., Las Cruces, NM Paul W. Bosland, NMSU, Las Cruces. NM Dave W i a , Fury Foods Magazine, Albuquerque,

NM Jams Faguson, Anthony Foods, Anthony. TX

Gene Jefferies, M c I l h y Co.. Avery Island, LA Javier Vatgas. NMSU, Las Cruces, NM Ron Gurlev, NMSU. Las Cruces. NM

New Mexico State University ex officio Directors Dr. Jerry Schickedanz, Interim Dean, College of

Agriculture and Home Economics Dr. James Fisher, Interim Depamoent Head, Dept. of

Agronomy and Horriculture Dr. Gary Cunningbarn Director, Agricultural

Experiment Station

The Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter

Janet Long Solis, Manuel hvarez and Aranzazii Carnarena have put together a beau- tifully designed and wonderfully narrated recipe book, El Placer del Chile (The Pleasure of Chile). Among the items discussed are the ori- gin and history of chile, production and cul- tural uses, medicinal uses and more. Chapter titles include

Chile in the Mexican Diet The Taste, Heat and Aroma of Chile Cultural Uses of Chile Classification of Chiles Recipes Preparation Techniques

The book is written in Spanish and in- cludes colorful pic- tures, illustrations and descriptions. There are a vari- ety of recipes to satisfy the most discerning taste buds, including different types of salsa, spaghetti with chile and many others. The book is filled with inter- esting facets of chile and is a must-see for chile lovers. w

Company Profile: Suncoast Peppers, Inc., based in St. Peters-

burg, Ha., specializes in hot sauce and other chile pepper related products, marketed in the United States and soon in Europe. In 1996, award-winning hot sauce maker El's Fire Sauce was acquired by Suncoast. El's Fire Sauce originated as a hot sauce shop in St. Pe- tersburg, where El's Red Eye and Belligerent Blaze were both brewed and bottled, using in- novative ingredients like honey and gold te- quila. They quickly outgrew the operation. Thanks to Suncoast, the origrnal sauces are now available nationwide in large quantities, manufactured at a professional factory nearby.

;Suncoast P e ~ ~ e r s team at their booth at t h k -

Suncoast Peppers, Inc.

;first Florida Firy Foods Show in St. Petersburq . --- * Fla. (1 0198). .. - - .,A

v - - - -7

Exciting new Suncoast products include Florida Heat, a habafiero-orange hot sauce marketed as "Florida in a Bottle," and Liquid Ax, an all natural "insanely hot" habafiero- ginger sauce touted as the hottest non-extract sauce currently on the market. Fortunately, habaiiero chiles grow very well in Florida, so fresh chiles are available almost year round for their sauces.

Suncoast Peppers president, Harald Zoschke, and his wife Renate, are co-owners of Peppers on the Pier, Tampa Bay's premier "hot shop," located on the pier in St. Petersburg. The pier is one of West Florida's most popular tourist attractions.

In November 1998, Suncoast launched their Pepperworld Hot Shop, offering secure online ordering of anything hot and spicy at www.pepperworld.com. This shop offers many innovative features not found in other online stores.

Harald and Renate also co-produced the first Florida Fiery Foods Show in October 1998, t* gether with Dave DeWitt's Sunbelt Shows and other local partners. Suncoast Peppers main- tains the Florida Fiery Foods Show '99 web site, at www.pepperworld.com/fffs.htm.

To help prospective chile fans abroad learn more about hot and spicy stuff--and because he's from Germany-Harald wrote Das Chili

Confinued pn page 4.

Volume W, f1.999

Suncoast, continuedfrom page 3.

Peppe~ Buch, the first German-language publica- tion covering all aspects of hot chiles including growing tips, recipes and insights into the fasci- nating "chile-head culture."

Approximately 10 years before starting Sun- coast Peppers in 1997, Harald founded Zoschke Data GmbH. This company built its reputation as a leading software development tools dis- tributor in German-speaking Europe, now fo- cusing on advanced Internet technologies. Sun- coast Peppers benefits from Zoschke Data's Internet "know how." In fact, the complete

Pepperworld site was built and is maintained by the Suncoast Peppers folks. They offer web design services to other companies, too, espe- cially in the fiery foods business.

In their yard at home in Treasure Island, Fla., the Zoschke's enjoy growing chiles for their own use. They love to experiment with new varieties and eat fresh hot chiles every day. They also love to cook with chiles, inventing new recipes they're compiling for a cookbook. You can reach Harald and Renate via email at Mo@pepperworld.com w

The Chile Pepper Institute's 1999 exotic chile seed sample is Black Cuban. This is the "black pepper" of chiles. There are no true "black" chiles. The black color comes from the very dark purple pigment in the fruits. The colora- tion can be so dark that it seems black to the hu- man eye. The fruit is black only in the immature stage, as the fruit matures it turns a bight red. This chile makes a nice ornamental plant in the yard. It has dark purple leaves and purple flow- ers. The fruits are about 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch in size and are very pungent. The plant can grow to 3 or 4 feet in height. The seed source for this chile is Cuba, thus the name Black Cuban. W Black Cuban

Chile is Hot Item as Pest Repellent

By exploiting the heat of the ripe, red habaiiero pepper--60 times hotter than its fiery cousin, the jalawo, and 10 times hotter than cay- researchers at the New Mexico Institute of Min- ing and Technology Foundation have devel- oped a mix of the non-toxic chile to repel zebra mussel.

"The zebra mussel easily could be termed aquatic enemy number one," said Daniel Lopez, president of NMIMT. Lopez and Timothy Early, of the Indiana-based Aquatic Research Institute, stated that tests had been successful in repelling the "meddlesome mollusks that have invaded water intake pipes and displaced native species in the Great Lakes and Mississippi and Ohio

rivers, which were among the first targets of the repellent." The repellent also has worked on rats and other pests. "Tests found rats shunned pepper-coated cables, and a corral post treated with the repellent kept pests at bay for five years," said Darwin VanDeGraff, president of MEDD4, a Santa Fe company that plans to mar- ket the repellent. Researchers mix non-toxic chile additives into caulks, paints, glues and rubber- coating materials. There is great interest in the repellent by the U.S. Coast Guard, lakeside and riverside residents, and businesses such as In- land Steel Co. of East Chicago, Ind. US. Coast Guard Lt. Chris Boes said, "It's going to be a real hot item." W

The Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter

chiles

chili

Chile or Chilli? N.M. Writer Explains

Sunny Conley, writer for the hs rarely used. The plural Cruces Sun News, continues the of chile (con came), as quest for the correct spelling of in "The restaurant of- chile. In her article, "Chile Knights: fers various kinds of Chile Lore, Tales & Tidbits," she chilies con came." writes:

Is it chilli, chilly, chiles, chili, chil- chilli like "chile," chilli re- ies or chilie? Allow me to add smoke fers to the fruit of the to the fire. While zooming through chile plant. pepper pod cyberspace, I've stumbled upon seemingly numberless versions no, "chilly" isn't just of chile spellings and definitions, for frosty nights. It's some of which I share below. also a variation of

"chilli." chile (1) the spelling "chile" is the Span-

ish adaptation of chili (or chilli), chili peppers refers to the chiles (or chillies) used the Aztec name for the fruit (pod) to make Texas chili. of the plant.

Conley requests that riaders contact her at Chile (2) when capitalized, it also can refer (505) 521-9381 or e-mail Sunny@zianet.com. if

to the country of Chile. she has missed a spelling of chile. % . s The Chile Pepper Institute has defined the

the plural of chile (1). ., fruit and plant as "chile" and the state dish of Texas as "chili." In seasonings, if you buy "chile,"

short for chili con carne. Chili, at you get ground pods. If you buy "chili," you least in New Mexico, refers to the get chile powder mixed with spices such as state dish of Texas, prepared with cumin and oregano. W beef and tomatoes.

chilies

chilly

Hatch Chile Festival Highlights

The "Chile Capital of the World-Hatch, N.M.-hosted the 2 F annual chile festival dur- ing the 1998 Labor Day weekend. Danise Coon, of the Chile Pepper Institute, along with Eric Votava and Lisa Oelke, judged the chile pod growing contest. The celebration featured every- thing from chile seasoning and chile-emblazoned boxer shorts to arts and crafts, music, country western dancing, sidewalk sales and a parade with Ms. Chile at the fore. Also featured at the festival was a book, Recipesfiom Hatch: Award Winning Recipes, which can be ordered by send-

I ing your name, address and $11.50 per book to

L Hatch Chile Festival, P.O. Box 38, Hatch, NM 1 87937. Included in this treasure of recipes is the

following first-place winner, Toni ~ e k y . .. . .

Volume W, Number 4, Winter 1998/1999

Green Chile Rellenos Sandia 6 green chile Sandias, roasted, peeled (leave

stems intact) 2 large eggs 1/2 lb Longhorn cheese, cut into long strips 1 cup flour 1 tsp salt vegetable oil

Slit each chile down center, remove seeds. Fill chiles with cheese. Beat egg whites until stiff; beat yolks until thick and fold into whites. Add flour and mix well; add salt. Dip stuffed chiles into batter. Drop into 1/2 inch hot oil and fry until brown on both sides. Drain and blot on paper towels. Selye Fa-- immediately. (Serves 3-6) W -

C A P S I C U M N E W S

Chile "Stamp" of Apprtwal

Chile peppers have made -- i t to the elite "stamp hall of

fame!" A picture of a red chile - wreath was among four

wreaths chosen by the U.S. Postal Service to grace the face of a 32e stamp. The "Contemporary Wreaths" col- lection was issued by the postal service for the 1998 holiday season.

and his input on chile issues." Marshall can be reached at 130 Whippoorwill Circle, Athens, GA 30605-3440, (706) 227-3052, or e-mail peppe rdd~ .cam.

Consumptian of Bdt Peppers Continues to Increase

According to a recent re- port from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Re- search Service, consumers have nearly doubled their consump- tion of bell peppers and other vegetables in the past decade. Industry members cite a vari- ety of reasons for the rise in vegetable consumption: a strong economy, better mar- keting, the health movement, improved technology, global sourcin~, consumer education and aw&eness. varieties with improved taste and appear- ance, expanded choices on

Dale Marshall Retires

Dale Marshall, agricultural engineer, retired Jan. 2 after more than 33 years of service with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Marshall plans to contribute his extensive bibli- ography on mechanical chile harvesting to the National Ag- ricultural Library where it will eventually be placed online.

"Dale was instrumental in - helping develop mechanical

- _-chile harvesting equipment 3 . e . - - currently in use," said Paul :--?;

Bosland, Chile Pepper Insti- tute diredor. "The chile in- dustry will greatly miss Dale -

menus i d in supermarkets and the advent of value-added and fresh-cut. Sales of colored peppers have increased tre- mendously. Due to the con- sumers taste for the industry's innovations, per capita fresh vegetable consumption rose 22 percent from 1987 to 1997. The Packer predicts that grow- ers-shippers and marketers, who take this cue from the consumer and develop new and better products, will con- tribute to the continued in- crease of vegetable consump tion into the next decade.

.r Source: The Packer

Capsicum: A Comprehensive Bibliography--6th Edition by Paul Bosland has recently been updated to include 300 more citations and 3 new subject subheadings. It now contains about 7,200 technical citations in 14 categories including tax- onomy, genetics, breeding, biochemistry, production and disorders.

You can do an online search of Bosland's Capsicum Bibliog- raphy at http://soil-physics. nmsu.edu:8080/chile. If you need assistance, please con- tact Danise Coon at the Chile Pepper Institute at (505) 646- 3028 . To order these bibliog- raphies, please indicate the desired format-a 3.5-inch diskette (Wordperfect 6.0 or 8.0) or hard copy. Please send check or money order for $50, payable to the NMSU Foun- dation/Chile Pepper Institute, to The Chile Pepper Institute, Box 30003, Dept. 3Q, NMSU, Las Cruces, NM 88003. Please no credit cards.

Show Your Chile Pride!

The Chile Pepper Institute's "Certified Chile Lover" decal has a new and improved look! Enclosed with this newsletter is a complimentary decal. If you would like to purchase additional decals at $1 each, please contact Danise Coon at the Chile Pepper Institute, (505) 646-3028.

The Chile Pepper Institute Newsletter

Question: As a hobby, I have been gr-ng sev- eral varieties of chile peppers in pots in my back yard. This year I planted anchos and, afer a very hot and dry summer, Ifinally have some on the vine. They are green and 2 to 3 inches long. At what stage will they be ripe and readyfor picking? Any help you can give me will be appreciuted.4. Robertson

Answer: The ancho chile pepper gets its name, "wide," from its broad, flat, heart-shaped pods. The fruits of the ancho can be used fresh or dried. The "poblano" or fresh green stage should be picked when the fruits are firm when squeezed gently with the fingers. The fresh poblano can be roasted and peeled, then pre- sewed by canning or freezing. They also can be stuffed to make chile rellenos. The pods will change to a red (ancho) or brown (mulato) as they mature. These are best dried and can be stored in airtight containers for months, or ground into powder. The powder of anchos is

used to make "mole" sauces. A possible rea- son for the late set on your vines is that anchos are adapted to cooler weather. Under hot con- ditions, the plants don't set fruit well. Once the temperatures become cooler, your plants will set fruit.

Question: Is there such a thing as a greenhouse insecticide spray madefrom habafieros?-T.J.

Answer: There is a commercial insecticide spray, "Hot Pepper Wax," that uses chile pep- pers as the active ingredient. The company in- dicates on the label that cayenne chiles are an ingredient in the insecticide. The company re- ports that it works up to 30 days. Hot Pepper Wax is available from gardening catalogs.

Question: What is the best way to can chile sauce?-Angie

Answer: Martha Archuleta, food and nutrition specialist with New Mexico State University's

Continued on page 8.

Volume VII, Number 4, Winter 1998/1999 - -r. .- - - .-- . -[ , -

Burning Questions, continuedfrom page 7.

Cooperative Extension Service, says the best way to process chile sauces is in a water bath for about 30 minutes. Start counting the processing time when water returns to boiling. Make sure your water-bath container is deep enough so that wa- ter covers jars up to at least 1 inch and water can boil freely. At an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, add to the processing time as follows:

3,000 ................ 6 minutes 4,000 ................ 8 minutes 5,000 .............. 10 minutes 6,000 .............. 12 minutes 7,000 .............. 14 minutes

Question: This is myfirst time growing hot pep- pers. The plant stick said "habaiieros," but I am not so sure now-the plants have numerous peppers which are GREEN in color. I bit into them and they are not hot at all. Will they turn hot later? Do I ripen them on the vine or can I pick them and let them ripen o f the vine?-J.A.

Answer Of course the plants could have been mislabeled at the nursery and you are not grow- ing habaiiero chiles. The fruit color is not a good indication of the type of chile. Many chiles are green when immature. Some good indicators that you do have a habaiiero plant are that there are more than one flower at each node, the flower's filaments are purplish and the leaves have a crinkled look to them. If your plant has these characteristics, then it is most likely a habaiiero. Another cause for mild fruits could be that the fruits were picked too immature for pungency to have developed. Leaving the fruits on the plant until the mature fruit color is ap- parent will allow the fruits to be hottest. Once a fruit begins to change to the mature color, it can be picked and will ripen off the vine; however, if you pick the fruit at a very early stage, the fruit will never ripen off the vine.-

The Chile Pepper Institute NMSU, Box 30003, MSC 3 4 Las Cruces, NM 88003 (505) 646-3028

A Non-Profit. International Organization Devoted to the Studv of Cansicurns