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Best Local Flavor
Hatch Chili Roasting
ABCO Markets Parking Lots
19 Locations
STAFF PICK: Toward the end of August, ABCO markets set
up gas powered chili roasters in their parking lots, and offer
free roasting to anyone buying a gunny sack of chiles. They offer
both mild and hot, and the chiles are always fresh off the truck
from Hatch, New Mexico, the nation's chile capital. The roasting
itself is a spectacle not to be missed: a sackful of chiles is
poured into a blackened, cylindrical cage, and the operator fires
it up. Stand back! The searing heat, the roar of the flames, the
scent of hundreds of chiles roasting is a hypnotic experience.
Once roasted, the chiles are easy to peel. Buy a sack for now
and a sack to freeze for the winter. Take your inspiration from
the tamale moms buying five gunny sacks at a time. If you can't
eat a gunny sack of green chiles, maybe you moved to the wrong
town.
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