Emergency! Green chile shortage!

Fresh green chiles*

Long green chiles, also known as Anaheim or New Mexican chiles, are a staple food in our household.  But lately every time my husband Wayne goes to the freezer to take out another package of long green chiles, he gets a look on his face that reminds me of Scrooge McDuck taking money out of a savings account.  You see, I was the cause of our family possibly having a shortage of chiles this year. Here is how it happened.

In late August and early September, a Southwest tradition is to stock up on enough long green chiles to last for a year until the the next fall harvest.  Large quantities of chiles can be roasted

Chile Roaster

and stored in bags in the freezer with the blackened outer skin intact.  Then the chiles are available for use in any number of dishes by thawing the chiles under running water and peeling off the skins.

Roasted and peeled green chiles

The problem comes when deciding whether to buy mild, medium or hot chiles, which are of course subjective categories. It does little good to ask the grocery store produce manager how hot the chiles are. One man's mild chile is another man's medium chile.

Last year the grocery store was sold out of mild chiles, but the worker stacking the boxes of chiles for sale assured us that the medium were not very hot.  Not very hot?  Those chiles were so hot that eating them brought tears to my eyes and made Wayne's forehead break out in a sweat. From then on, those fiery chiles sat in the freezer taking up space. We threw them in the trash bin in August. What a waste of money, time and effort!

So when we restocked our chile supply last August, we chose boxes marked as "mild," but I had lost confidence in those labels.  My thought was to buy just a minimum supply, say 20 lbs. or so, because if the chiles turned out to be scorchers we might not even use that amount.  As luck would have it, these mild chiles were really and truly mild, and delicious I might add. 

We use green chiles in a variety of dishes:  salsas, quesadillas, chile con queso, stews, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, burritos,  cornbread, and quiche, to name just a few.  Chiles are tasty made into chiles rellenos, or stuffed with guacamole and chilled.  I even add them to homemade cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.  If I can't find a green vegetable to serve with a meal, I can unfreeze and serve green chiles by themselves as a side dish and feel virtuous.

Besides having an appealing flavor, chiles are loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, iron, and potassium.  They contain no fat or cholesterol.  Chiles can supposedly increase metabolism, release endorphins, and clear sinuses.  You can see why the smaller supply of chiles I insisted on buying last season will probably be depleted long before the next chile harvest time.

In penance, I suppose every time we need green chiles,  I will have to volunteer to drive to the grocery store, purchase fresh green chiles, roast them myself in the oven,

Chiles roasted in the oven

and peel them. After a few times doing that, I will have learned my lesson. Or (heaven forbid), I can always try to sneak in canned chiles, hoping no one will notice the difference.

Canned chiles

Next August, we will be buying a large supply, probably 60 lbs.. of fresh green chiles to freeze.  I wonder if I can talk our cats into eating green chiles, just in case of over supply?   

 *"Chiles" is the commonly used spelling in the Southwest.