The chile chase is in ruins!!

The chile chase was literally in ruins... the ruins of great Mayan and Toltec cities. A recent chile addition to the collection came from Palenque itself, where "managed" wild chiles grow in the shadows of temples constructed over 1500 years ago.

Here is a photo of the largest plant we found - just along the edge of the forest in moderate shade. This one was clearly saved from "weeding" by the grounds crew. When we asked about this, it was clear that the useful plants were maintained - there were avocado trees, orange trees and several pepper plants that the vendors (selling souvenirs, etc) knew about and would harvest from.


Here, Kraig is kneeling at the site of a small chile plant at the base of a small temple.

...and here's a close up of the plant itself. While it is the same species found in other places in Mexico (see previous post on chile pequins) it has a different local name, tepenchil.

Of course, chile hunting at Palenque was a bonus. We were there to learn about the amazing history of the region and take in the sights! Here is the famous temple of the inscriptions in Palenque. When we arrived in the morning, howler monkeys provided a loud and very boisterous soundtrack for our wanderings.
While on the chase in Mexico, we are often obligated to stop by at some of Mexico's famous roadside attractions. In comparison to those found in the United States, those in Mexico are invariably more historic, more grandiose in construction and more photogenic! I will share a few of the best photos from these paradas:

This was the first one - El Tajín en Veracruz - a Totonac (Tutunakú) word that means thunder, this is a major ruins site on the central East Coast. Pictured is the temple of the niches - which has 365 niches around its facade.

Here is the El Castillo temple in Chichén Itzá - where on the spring and fall equinox, the light casts a shadow along the staircase that forms the shape of a serpent.

Here is the Toltec/Mayan port town of Tulum, on the Caribbean coast.

We'll leave you with a shot of one of the most impressive temples - the top of the largest pyramid in Uxmal - 12 Mini Chaac-Mul faces line the staircase on its way up to the central Chaac face at the top of the temple. The structure at the top is meant to mimic the face of Chaak Mool (the all important the rain god) - you can see the two eyes, the nose (broken off) and the gaping mouth, in which sacrafices were practiced...

Chile pequin vs. Chiltepin

For the past year, I have been anticipating this year's collection trip, as it took me through areas that are known as important habitats for wild chiles. In Mexico, the chiles are distributed along the coastal plains and along the foothills of the 2 major mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental (west) and the Sierra Madre Oriental (east). In the interior of the country, there are no wild chiles, except for a few found in lower elevation basins (such as in the state of Queretaro - http://chasingchiles.blogspot.com/2006/11/back-on-chase.html). Last year, the collection path followed the western coast of the country and veered into the highlands. This year, I'm starting in the east. In Texas, actually, and will work my way along the eastern seaboard before veering back into the middle.

Over the last 6 days, I have been wandering south Texas and the state of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, which are home to the chile pequin (or chile de monte). I have anticipated your first question - "Chile pequin? I thought you were searching for chiltepin?"
True. This is a great example of the problems that "common" names create for biologists. Botanically, the Sonoran chiltepin that I have been ranting and raving about and this Tex-Mex chile pequin, are the same (at first glance anyways) - C. annuum var. glabriusculum. Due to the different climatic conditions that occurs in different geographic locations, with slightly different modifications to adapt to each. For our purposes, we'll say that chile pequin has slightly elongated fruits and its environs are slightly more humid than that of chiltepin. There also exist quite a few cultural and gastronomic differences between the two. While the indigenous groups in Sonora and Arizona survived the Spanish conquest and today still maintain their own ethnic identities, here in Nuevo Leon, the predominant indigenous group was quickly subdued and their blood and ethnicity melded into the dominant mestizo ethnicity. For the chile pepper, this is manifested in appearances in certain spiritual rituals, as part of religious icons and as part of myths and oral histories in Sonora and Arizona, while there is a distinct absence of this in Southern Texas and in Northeastern Mexico. The culinary differences are also quite great. While the chiltepin is best consumed and commercialized in its dried state, the chile pequin is preferred immature and green, where it is added to salsas or pickled. The myriad of differences are encapsulated in the commercial price for each and in the way it is produced or harvested.

• Chiltepin: Harvested from the wild by hand, each ripe chile picked individually as to not damage the plant. Dry wholesale price in the US - $50 per lb. Wholesale price in Mexico - $300-$500 pesos per kilo, or roughly $13 - $22 US per lb. No (or very little) commercial production.
  
• Chile pequin: Green fruit is harvested by cutting down the entire plant/branch and then fruit is separated from other plant material at a later time. Mexican wholesale price is $90 pesos per kilo (price in Linares 10/7). Increasingly commercially produced.

I'm currently working with a professor here in Nuevo Leon, who is bent on commercializing the chile pequin. He has been growing and selecting lines of chile pequin (and actually shared with me his entire seed collection) that are collected in the wild from all around the state and has done trials to determine the best management practices (irrigation, how much shade, harvesting regimes, etc.). Its a pretty incredible project, with a real potential for economic gain for the farmers. With potential yields of one kilo of chile per plant, potential planting densities of 10 to 18 thousand plants per hectare and prices at 40 to 50 pesos per kilo, you are talking about enormous sums of money for a farmer. If you really want to know how the math breaks down - email me and we can discuss it.

Since I've told the story of the chiltepin a few times - let me show some pictures from the chile pequin from Texas and Nuevo Leon to help tell you this story. If you haven't seen this photo widget before, just click on the small version of the picture to have it appear in the frame.





Photo 1. Here is Bill M. aka Texas Chef Bill. He was my guide to Texan chile pequins in San Diego, TX. I've put a link to his blog in the sidebar if you would like to see some authentic Southern Texan cooking.
Photo 2. Chile pequins tend to be found along fences (where birds perch) and under mesquites - this chile is right at the base of the fence post.
Photo 3. That's the one.
Photo 4. This is a close-up of the flower. The long stigma extends away from the immature anthers, in an attempt to minimize self-fertilization. The flower is ready to receive pollen much sooner than it is to disperse pollen from the anthers.
Photo 5. At the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, there is a large project underway to promote chile pequin production. The sign reads that this is the technology transfer headquarters.
Photo 6. Dr. Horacio Villalón and Ingieniero Soto show us some plants that are ready for sale. Each plant is sold for 5 pesos, of which is re-invested into the project. The infrastructure (irrigation, shade) and the plants represent a buy-in on the producers part.
Photo 7. Here is one of the greenhouses with thousands of seedlings in various stages of development. They hope to have 500,000 plants sold per year as of next January.
Photo 8. Yours truly, tasting the wild product right off the bush. Dr. Villalón shared all of his collection with us, so this trip to the field was just to sightsee.
Photo 9. Here is a less technified commercial operation. Don Jaime simply cleared the land, found all of these chile pequin seedlings and then transplanted them to an area by his house. He has over 600 plants and likes it so much, he's wondering why he even bothered to plant half of his plot to maize.

I think I'll end this one here. More soon, with a Saturday off in Monterrey.

its baaaaack.....

After a long hiatus away from the blog – a period of time that included a great trip to Argentina, the untimely passing of our best and most loyal friend - our dog Koji, Heather’s completion of her Master’s degree in International Agricultural Development, and tons of great food and times in Davis…we’re chasing chiles for one last time.

Let’s get up to speed:

I received a Fulbright grant this year to continue (and hopefully finish) my dissertation research. I will be starting a new project in Mexico this winter – conducting farmer surveys in Northern Mexico in order to understand seed selection in dry chile pepper production. If that last sentence left you scratching your head, further clarification and explanation will soon follow. However, in the meanwhile, I am taking advantage of my travel time to continue to expand my collection of wild chile peppers, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum. Last year was a tremendous start, with a wide collection that ranged from Arizona on south to Jalisco and over to Veracruz. This year I will be attempting to follow a complementary route – south from Texas and into the northeastern states of Mexico – Nuevo Leon, Tamulipas and San Luis Potosi.

Here is an image to jog your memory and provide some color to the return of chasing chiles.







More to come soon - a return to Sonora and a treatise on New Mexican chiles.