It's that time of year again in Flagstaff, Arizona, that says autumn is on the way. The Hatch, New Mexico green chiles are here and the smell of roasting peppers fills the air. It just goes to prove that man cannot live by tortillas (or pan-fried cornbread) alone. We stood in the rain for ten minutes to get a fresh, hot sack of them. Nothing else tastes like them. You add these to a venison posole, man, you'll have to let out the belt a couple notches before getting up from the table. I add them to succotash, I add them to chili, I heat them up and eat them by themselves with salt on them. Or wrap them up in a hot tortilla.
Some folks are in states that, sadly, have no green chile roasting traditions. Well, the secret is they're roasted using propane "jets" blowing flame through a wire mesh drum that spins, making sure the chiles are roasted evenly. Then they're dumped into a plastic bag and tied off where it "sweats" the skin loose. You just use the back of a knife to peel the burned skin off before eating. The roasted flavor is locked in the chile. They use Hatch green chiles, but if they don't have those where you are, you can use Anaheims. Anaheims are a type of New Mexico green chile taken to California by a Mr. Ortega with the intention of growing and canning them (which they still do.)
Chile roasters can be bought through ads in Chile Pepper magazine or you can make your own. Alternatively, a good propane torch could do the trick to get a few for dinner. If you live in a state that doesn't have this, buy yourself a roaster or make yourself one and set yourself up a stand roasting green chiles at your local farmer's market or craft fairor public events. People that smell these roasting cannot resist them. The smell is that enticing. If I had the cash, I'd buy a roaster, make connections, and move back to Hawaii and do this myself. I bet I could sell a LOT of roasted green chiles there. I never saw these until we moved to Flagstaff and the first time I smelled them, I rushed out and bought a bag of them. I'd never seen them before, and I lived in L.A. right when the big "Southwestern/Santa Fe/Tex-Mex" foods craze was hitting. I'm serious. A person who's first on his block to set himself up a roaster in his town stands to make good money. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to roast a case of peppers and they sell here for $25 a case. Or $7.50 a bag (cheaper by the case.) The roasters is buying them by truckloads quantity so he's paying a lot less for cases than he sells. But no one complains about price---these things are addictive! If you offer both mild and hot, you'll sell to darn near everyone and they'll come back and buy more. All you need is a place to store all your cases of chiles.
