Puzzle Description:

In season right now: a Hatch green chile pepper, named for Hatch, New Mexico. Most "Mexican" cuisine in my hometown, Denver, is actually New Mexican, and full of these chiles. They are not popular here in Houston, but I have my sources.

#1: bengt embrey (bengt) on Sep 1, 2009 [HINT]

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I agree, Bengt!

Nice puzzle, Robyn. I'm a little leary of fresh chili peppers, because I don't know which ones are too not or not. I was going to ask you where the Hatch chili peppers are on the hotness scale, but decided to look it up. I found out that there are 5 different ones that are called "Hatch" (because they are grown in Hatch, NM) that range from Mild to XX Hot. I also learned that Hatch NM is the Chili Capital of the World. Now I'm hungry, gonna go make myself something Mexican. :-)

Found to be logically solvable by Gator.

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Thanks, Gator. Teresa, I like food that's a *little* spicy, but I'm pretty wimpy. These chiles are best when roasted, and I carefully remove the membranes to make them even milder—the membranes that hold the seeds are where the capsaicin (the "spicy-hot" chemical) is. Our favorite dish (which I made for dinner tonight) is pork green chili. It's almost a gravy, and in New Mexico they put it on practically EVERYTHING: hamburgers, burritos, chicken, etc. The only place I can get this dish in my part of the country is my own kitchen!

The anaheim peppers sold throughout the U.S. were imported from Hatch to CA. Hatch peppers taste way better, maybe because they are fresher, maybe the soil or climate makes a difference I don't know. I just LOVE them. We had Hatch green chili gravy on our chicken tonight for dinner. In August Hatch peppers are sold in parking lots in southern Colorado. They fire up a roaster (metal cage with with a propane flame) roast some peppers until they are black on the outside and raw on the inside and sell them by the zip lock bag. The smell is fabulous. You wipe off the black before eating. I like the medium hot for stuffing (chicken, mushrooms, boursin).

Ummm! Thanks for this entry!

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Being from New Mexico all these comments are bringing back nice memories. Since I live in Michigan now, I have had to resort to asking my mom to mail fresh chilies in the fall by UPS. The driver would always say "Your box is stinking up my truck"! Guess he didn't love that smell as much as some of us!

Thanks for all of the good small puzzles this week.

Minnie, you should make him something with the chiles so he can learn to appreciate their aroma!

Great image. Tough to start puzzle.

Deceptively tricky puzzle and a really nice image!

Fire roasted?

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