Pickin Peppers in the 21st Century
By Judy Fodor
You know it is pepper season when the conversation in front of King Soopers includes the question, "Did you get your chile yet?" That"s your first clue that chile pepper season is on, and you missed fresh, sweet corn. It also means that you had better get your chile before it freezes. The average household will rely on at least two bushels to be roastedbagged and frozen to get them through the winter.
Take Sante Fe Drive (U.S. 50 Business) until you pass Salt Creek, a small community of tiny houses and big dogs. Watch for hand painted road signs on either side of Sante Fe Drive. If you miss the first pepper sign on Sante Fe Drive, don"t worry. There are many more to come.
Many
native Puebloans refer to this area as "the County." Until about
15 years or so ago it was mainly an agricultural community. However, more and
more subdivisions with closer neighbors and cul-de-sacs kept cropping up. Pepper
growers appear to be a friendlier version of the city dwelling Puebloan. They
have a propensity to smile more.
During pepper season, you can smell roasting peppers immediately upon entering "the County." Many of us farm-hopping pickers enjoy a tradition of driving out to "the County" and picking the chile right off the plant. The next step is getting the chile peppers home to roast for the best flavor and easy peeling. The serious farm-hoppers like to pick their own. They"ve learned through experience that the peppers peel easier if they"re roasted immediately after picking. The freshly picked chiles hold their flavor better too.
One roadside sign, a whitewashed piece of plywood, reads, "tomatoes, peppers, corn, apples, squash." It leans up against a solitary post just off the highway across an irrigation ditch. The word "corn" has a big X painted across it. (It is late in the summer season, and if you wanted corn, you"re too late. As all Pueblo farm-hoppers know, you have to get the corn prior to the peppers.) A few of the letters drop below their counterparts in spacing, but it catches your eye. About 200 yards further east on Sante Fe Drive another whitewashed and red lettered sign reads, "turn here."
Turning right, you slow down for the unpaved road. If you keep your eye on the road you will see yet another whitewashed sign with a red arrow pointing to another quick right about 100 yards down the dirt road. Curls of fine dirt are kicked up from behind your car wheels as you drive the dirt road. You slow down as you approach the farmhouse; the dust trail usually announces your arrival.
Open fields for pepper pickers are becoming less available to the public, because the farmers can"t trust them anymore. The pickers tend to pick more than the peppers. They will take the entire plant if given the opportunity. Most farmers will only allow pickers in their fields when the season is almost over and they have sold all they need to sell or if they trust you.
Before being eaten, chile peppers must be roasted and peeled. Using the oven and high temperatures to blister the pepper works well but is time-consuming. Only so many chiles fit onto a cookie tray and in the oven at one time. Some people will roast chile on the barbeque grill. I've only tried once, but no matter how you roast them, you've got to peel them. There is only one way to peel them, and that is with your bare hands. Peeling peppers is no joyful task because by the time you have peeled about four or five of them your hands will know. They will burn. There is no way around it.
