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Hatch Chile Peppers Delivery or Pickup

The Instacart guide to Hatch chile pepper products


About Hatch chile peppers

Hatch chile peppers, or Hatch chiles for short, is a chile cultivar grown and harvested in the Hatch Valley region in New Mexico. This fertile region stretches along the Rio Grande from Arrey, New Mexico, in the north to Tonuco Mountain, south of the town Hatch. The volcanic soil in this area, together with a 4,000-foot elevation and hot days and cold nights, provides the perfect conditions for the chiles to thrive.

The Pueblo Native Americans were already growing chiles in this region hundreds of years ago. However, what is currently known as the Hatch chile is a cultivar group of the chile peppers that these Native Americans grew. During the late 1800s, a horticulturist named Dr. Fabián Garcia and his students developed the modern New Mexican chile peppers at the New Mexico State University. Hatch chile peppers are simply New Mexican chile peppers that are grown in the Hatch Valley. 

They are, however, world-famous and form an essential part of New Mexico's economy and culture. The little town of Hatch, which has barely 2,000 people, is known as the chile capital of the world. The annual Hatch Chile Festival, which takes place during Labor Day weekend, attracts more than 30,000 visitors from all over the world. 

How to pick out Hatch chile peppers

Hatch chile pepper season is relatively short since it runs from the beginning of August until the end of September, or at the latest, the middle of October. Due to the brevity of the harvesting season and the limited geographic availability, much of the Hatch chile harvest is flash frozen. Customers can also buy roasted Hatch green chiles or jarred Hatch green chiles throughout the year.

However, if you're out shopping for fresh Hatch chile peppers, you want to select specimens that are crisp and brightly colored. Look for chiles that have smooth skin and are firm to the touch. If chile peppers have wrinkled skin, mold, or black spots, avoid them, as these qualities point to aging and rot.

How to store Hatch chile peppers

You can store and preserve Hatch chile peppers in many ways. If you want to use them fresh, you can store them in a plastic or paper bag in the refrigerator, in which case they'll last for about two weeks. If you leave them outside at room temperature, you'll need to use them within a week or so. To preserve chile peppers, you can pickle them in vinegar and water in a jar.

Another popular preservation method is drying the chiles.

Hatch Chile Peppers Near Me

Buy your favorite Hatch Chile Peppers online with Instacart. Order Hatch Chile Peppers from local and national retailers near you and enjoy on-demand, contactless delivery or pickup within 2 hours.

FAQs about Hatch chile peppers

When Dr. Fabián Garcia was experimenting with new cultivars of chiles that would do well in the New Mexico region, he also had another aim in mind: to grow larger and milder peppers that were perfect for canning. Consequently, the Hatch chile pepper is relatively low on the heat scale compared to other chile cultivars. 

However, since Hatch chile peppers consist of many different varieties, their level of hotness can range from about one-third as hot as a typical jalapeno pepper to almost as hot as a jalapeno pepper — which is relatively mild as far as chiles go.

When they're green, Hatch chiles have a mild, spicy-sweet flavor with an added pungency, similar to an onion or garlic. As they mature into red chiles, they retain this flavor but offer extra layers of flavor, such as earthiness and increased spiciness. Also, whereas younger Hatch chiles tend to provide a front heat, the spiciness of the mature chile lies at the back of the mouth or throat.

To cash in on the popularity of Hatch chiles, some distributors started to use the name Hatch for chiles that were not grown in the region. Fortunately, a law protects the Hatch farmers and residents at large. This law states that chile pods have to be grown in Hatch for them to bear the name Hatch.

When you run out of Hatch chiles, simply open the Instacart app and place any Hatch chile products you desire in your virtual shopping cart. One of our friendly and efficient Instacart shoppers will hand-select your requested products and deliver them to you in as little as 2 hours! In this way, you get to spend more time at home in your kitchen preparing delicious meals for your family.