Sutherland Farms<\/a> north of Aztec will celebrate the bounty of the state\u2019s signature crop with the Animas River Green Chile Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For fans of the peppers, it\u2019s worth the 30-mile drive.<\/p>\nD\u2019rese Sutherland, who has owned the farm with her husband, Allen, for more than 25 years, said they started the chile event about 10 years ago. \u201cFor most of the people in New Mexico, (green chiles) are the staple of their diet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sutherland Farms calls its chiles Animas River Chiles. What makes them different from Hatch Chiles, which are cultivated in the Hatch Valley near Las Cruces, N.M., is the climate where they are grown. Aztec is drier than the southern part of the state but has cooler nights. As a result, Animas River Chiles taste similar to Hatch Chiles but have a more prominent flavor. In case you\u2019re a tourist, the green chile profile is smoky, spicy and slightly sweet.<\/p>\n
The green chiles that go unharvested will eventually turn into red chiles in late September or early October and develop a more earthy flavor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really turn red after a light frost,\u201d Sutherland said.<\/p>\n
More than 800 people typically visit the farm over the two festival days, during which there will be live bands, a petting zoo, train rides and face painting for kids. Attendees can grab a bite at the farm\u2019s Purple Cow Cafe, which serves barbecue, seasonal produce and green chile-based items such as chile rellenos. The dish has been a Sutherland family recipe for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cA local lady had given us the recipe,\u201d Sutherland said. \u201cWe\u2019ve (made it) for 30 years. We\u2019ve made them in our family for that long or longer. Our mom started making them and passed it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is also a market on site that is currently stocked with sweet corn, spaghetti and summer squashes, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and potatoes. Plenty of green chiles will be brought in by pickers throughout the day and will be available to purchase and roast fresh in the roaster tumbler.<\/p>\n
Chile lovers can choose from mild, medium, medium hot, hot and extra hot varieties in either a half or full bushel. A full bushel should last a year and weighs anywhere from 25 to 30 pounds and costs $25 unroasted and $30 roasted. A half bushel costs $17 unroasted and $22 roasted.<\/p>\n
The more seeds inside the pepper, the higher the chances it will be spicy. One major green chile misconception is how green chiles get their spice, Sutherland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe variety determines the heat,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people think if you don\u2019t put water on it, (the pepper) gets hotter. There are people who swear by that, but we never found that to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the water myth was true, this year\u2019s chiles would be extra hot because of the lack of rainwater. \u201cIt has been a challenge this year because a lot of times you get some rain, but we\u2019ve been solely dependent on irrigating,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The lack of rainwater meant the chiles grew slower, about 10 days later than usual, but luckily, the 9-acre harvest was still plentiful.<\/p>\n
Sutherland encourages families to come out to the free event to listen to music and smell the roasting chiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt smells like salsa,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Even if you can\u2019t make it to Aztec, your senses can still experience the harvest. You can purchase fresh-roasted chiles at the Sutherland Farms booth at the Durango Farmers Market<\/a> on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.<\/p>\n\n
If you go<\/h4>\n
Event:<\/strong>
\n Animas River Green Chile Festival
\n Cost:<\/strong>
\n Free
\n Time:<\/strong>
\n 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
\n Location:<\/strong>
\n Sutherland Farms, 745 Road 2900, Aztec, N.M.
\n For more information:<\/strong>
\n Visit sutherlandfarms.net.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aztec\u2019s Sutherland Farms to host event to commemorate green chile harvest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[281,304,1240,438,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-97980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-agriculture","tag-animas-river","tag-aztec","tag-food","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97980"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=97980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}