Chile Season: When the Whole State Smells Like Roasting

There is a smell that means home to every New Mexican, and it arrives once a year. From August into September, propane roasters spin their wire drums outside grocery stores and farm stands, and the whole state fills with the smoky-sweet perfume of green chile catching fire.

The roaster on every corner

During harvest, you buy chile by the sack and have it roasted on the spot, the drum tumbling the pods over open flame until the skins blister and char. The line at a good roaster is a social event in itself.

If you want to know when fall arrives in New Mexico, follow your nose to the roaster.

Peel, bag, and freeze

Back home, families gather to peel the still-warm chile, seal it into freezer bags, and stock a year's supply. A well-filled freezer of green chile is a genuine measure of household security here.

Hatch and beyond

The town of Hatch claims the crown and throws a festival to prove it, but chile grows across the state, and loyalties run deep. Northern Chimayó chile, grown in small heirloom plots, has its own passionate defenders.

Field notes

• Buy a sack and have it roasted on the spot — then freeze it.
• The Hatch Chile Festival peaks over Labor Day weekend.
• Ask for the heat level; a single field can vary wildly.

For a few smoky weeks the whole state cooks together, and the freezers fill against the winter. There is no more New Mexican ritual than this.