Hot Sauce Entrepreneur World Registry

INFLUENTIAL INDIVIDUALS, ENTREPRENEURS & ENTITIES

Inducted into the

HISTORY of HOT SAUCES & SALSAS

WORLD REGISTRY

2018, April 15 INDUCTEES …

Mid-19th Century Intact Cargo;

3rd Baron Harris & The British Colony Connection;

Philadelphia Seed Merchants

• “Peppersauce” Destiny … Missouri River Commerce; Montana Mining Frontier; Atlantic Paddle-Steamer Shipwreck

September 5, 1856 Steamboat Arabia
April 1, 1865 Steamboat Bertrand
October 24, 1865 Steamship SS Republic

Intact Cargo, including Pepper sauces, among thousands of bottles, foodstuffs, and trade goods recovered and documented from three primary steamboat/steamship wrecks on the Missouri River (Arabia & Bertrand) and in the Atlantic Ocean far off the coast of Georgia (SS Republic), respectively, “reveals a time capsule of bottled goods of the times”.  Bottles From the Deep – Patent Medicines, Bitters, & Other Bottles From the Wreck of the Steamship Republic, Ellen Gerth, Shipwreck Heritage Press (2006).

“Seldom do we obtain more than a partial glimpse of the past from archaeological endeavors.  In the case of the BERTRAND collection, however, the condition of excavated objects was as incredible as their diversity.  Lack of oxygen and a slightly acidic soil assured the survival of inorganic and some organic materials.  Even foods survived; a variety of canned or bottled fruits and vegetables were bound for Montana gold fields!  Indeed, no collection of historic objects from the 1860s in any other federal museum compares to the BERTRAND materials.  The significance of this collection remains its research value for archaeologists.  Type specimens of every variety help determine the chronology for other archaeological finds.”
The Bertrand Stores, An Introduction to the Artifacts from the 1865 Wreck of the Steamboat Bertrand, Leslie Perry Peterson, Desoto National Wildlife Refuge, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, published by Midwest Interpretive Association (1997).

On September 5, 1856, prior to the Civil War, after the side-wheeler Steamboat Arabia had departed from St. Louis and made a short stop in Kansas City; the heavily loaded Arabia hit an undetected tree below the water level which ripped through Arabia’s hull.  Cargo destined for frontier merchants sunk rapidly with the Arabia, “one of only two early riverboats found with its cargo mostly intact.”

Where the Missouri River had changed course, the Arabia became legend, for the wreck was not located until 1987, buried on a Kansas farm one-half mile from the current river’s edge and 45 feet underground.  After tunneling through the dirt, mud, and groundwater, and finally uncovering the Arabia 132 years after it sunk, the steamboat’s intact cargo was excavated.

“Nestled in a packing of sawdust, we found a dozen tall decorative bottles containing Western Spicemills Pepper Sauce, St. Louis. Because of inadequate cold storage during the 1800s, the meat deteriorated quite rapidly.  Early Americans used pepper sauce and other spices to flavor meat and cover up the rancid taste.”
Treasure in a Cornfield, The Discovery and Excavation of the Steamboat Arabia, Greg Hawley, Paddle Wheel Publishing, Kansas City, Mo. (2005) pgs. 134-135.
See also; The Arabian Steamboat Museum, 400 Grand Avenue, Kansas City, MO.

After the Civil War; reconstruction, western expansion, and the 1860s gold-mining camps of the Montana Territory created even greater commerce on the heartland’s rivers.  

The sternwheeler Steamboat Bertrand was discovered in 1967 with the excavation of the boat and its cargo (300,000 artifacts) completed in 1969.  Where the Missouri River had changed course (a regular occurrence with fast-moving water), the wreck occurred on April 1, 1865 when the Bertrand hit a snag 20 miles north of Omaha and ended up being forgotten until the boat was discovered in the middle of a Nebraska cornfield. “The cargo of the steamboat Bertrand is a time capsule of glass containers once destined for the mining camps of Montana Territory.”
Bottles on Montana’s Mining Frontier, Ray Thompson, Bottles and Extras (Fall 2004).

Seventy-nine embossed “ST. LOUIS SPICE MILLS” Cathedral-style bottles contained red pepper sauce.  Ninety-six hexagonal Cathedral-style Pepper Sauce bottles were found in wood cases stenciled SUPERIOR/RED BIRD/PEPPER/SAUCE/NEW YORK.
Thirty-three intact vertically embossed “E.F. DIXIE” (and horizontally embossed on the  shoulders: “WORCESTER SAUCE”) bottles were believed to be early patent infringements of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce bottles.
Cf. The Steamboat Bertrand and Missouri River Commerce, Ronald Switzer, University of Oklahoma Press: Norman (2013). See also; Bertrand Conservation Laboratory and Museum at De Soto National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri Valley, Iowa.

Steamships carried material goods from the eastern seaports around Florida to New Orleans for transport on paddle wheelers up the Mississippi River. On October 24, 1865 the SS Republic sank in a storm off the Georgia coast.  

“The legacy of bottled food goods is often seen through archaeological excavation of land sites, including 19th century dumps and privies. Such sites generally show an accumulation over many years…of discarded, left-over, and unwanted materials.”
Bottles from the Deep, id.

The SS Republic artifacts recovered provide “an exact glimpse of one distinct and significant moment in history; a cargo of select goods carried aboard a steamship at sea”. Id.

Among the more than six thousand food bottles recovered, representing 175 types, are 250 original embossed Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce bottles with glass and cork stoppers, found intact on nearly half the samples. Id. @ pgs. 66-67.

More than 150 square and six-sided Cathedral-style Pepper Sauce bottles, all in varying shades of aquamarine, blue, and green were recovered.  

“At least a half dozen of the bottles still hold some remnants…well-preserved red or green chili peppers, floating in a murky liquid, now contaminated with sea water…”

Id. @ pgs. 68-69.

• Lord George Francis Robert Harris [August 14, 1810–November 23, 1872] Capsicum chinense {Trinidad Red Pepper}
  + Capsicum frutescens {Goa Bird’s-eye Chili}

“Bird” Pepper(s) was a commonly used descriptor of both the Capsicum Annuum and Capsicum Frutescen varieties of chiles (which red chile fruits looked similar to berries) that were carried, fertilized, and distributed by birds on migratory routes north of the area where chiles originated in South America to Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

The Portuguese, who had colonies in Africa and an extensive slave network in Brazil, transported slaves to the Americas and brought back chiles (Frutescen and Annuum varieties) to Africa which essentially established (in Africa) the tabasco, malagueta, pili-pili, peri-peri, piri-piri, berebere, i.e., all similar and some the same; also commonly known as birdseye, bird’s eye or bird peppers … which chiles were thought, incorrectly, to have originated in Africa.

Where the Portuguese had extensive dealings with trade centers along the coasts of Africa and in pockets of Portuguese-influenced Asia; the city of Goa, India was a major Portuguese trade port in southwest India. Goans use of spicy chiles in their curries, sambals, masalas, chilli sauces, etc., was extensive, and became well-known.

The Bhut Jolokia in India, specifically in the provinces of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland, the former tribal headhunter area east of Myanmar, formerly Burma, and adjacent to the country of Bhutan (where this chile pepper’s descriptive name originates); adapted extremely well to the central Asian-Indian climate; similar to the humid tropical weather of Trinidad, and grew abundantly in the hills.

Where India was a British colony and Trinidad was a British colony, administrators of England’s colonies were appointed by the British crown.

Lord George Francis Harris, the 3rd Baron, served as colonial administrator in Trinidad (1846-1854) and subsequently in Madras, India (1854-1859).

His son, George Robert Harris (born 1851 in Trinidad), the 4th Baron, was appointed the Governor of Bombay (1890-1895) and developed the railroad in the province.

The introduction of the Trinidad “Scorpion” chile to India, commonly known as “Red Pepper” and “Red Delish” on the island, occurred during the tenure of the 3rd Baron.  Lord Harris brought the devil’s pepper with his family after accepting his appointment to administer the Indian subcontinent.

“One species called ‘devil’s pepper,’ introduced by Lord Harris, from Trinidad, is so intensely hot that the natives can hardly manage to use it.”
Reference: Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia (1871), edited by Edward Balfour and published in Madras, India.

Bombay was one of the East India (trading) Company’s main settlements where cotton textiles for export were most important to replenishing the British crown coffers. The “devil’s” peppers [from Hindi bhūt < Sanskrit bhūtā; in Indian mythology a spirit or demon, loosely translated to “ghost”] were grown in Lord Harris’ garden.  Bombay is several hours north of Goa whose markets offered a prime outlet for chiles already in commerce. Jolokia is the word for “chile”.

Varieties of bird peppers were bred, or cross-pollinated, with the devil’s pepper, thus introducing the hybrid “bhut jolokia” to India where the chile plants adapted superbly to the climate and terrain in the “wild” remote northeastern provinces.

The country of Bhutan is called Druk Yul – Land of Thunder Dragon. Because of the violent and large thunderstorms that whip down through the valleys from the Himalayas, Bhutan is known as the Land of Thunder Dragon. The sparkling light of thunderbolts were believed to be red fire of a dragon. Thus, the color and incredible heat of the chile derives its’ name from the descriptive meaning of Bhutan, which sits directly above this remote area of India.

Additionally, “naga jolokia”, a duplicative name for the same chile variety, derives its’ name from the former headhunter province of Nagaland (India).  Naga, originating from the Naga Hills of Burma, means “serpent” or “snake”.  Where this tribal part of India was almost completely isolated from the rest of India (and the world), other than government officials and missionaries for a hundred years or so; the existence of the Naga “King Cobra” chilli / bhut jolokia / ghost pepper was only an unconfirmed rumor for many years in the United States before finally being recognized as an agricultural export between 2003-2005.  Personal correspondence with active Methodist missionaries working in the tribal northeastern provinces of India supports the information gleaned from multiple sources.

The Bhut Jolokia is a cross of roughly 80-85% Trinidad Scorpion and 15-20% Bird Pepper.  The Trinidad Scorpion was so-named by the Trinidad government because of the sting of the chile and the distinctive “tail” of the fruit, but primarily as a competitive marketing tool after the early success of India marketing their “Ghost” pepper as the world’s hottest.  Asserting the heirloom Trinidad Scorpion chiles as hotter than the hybrid Ghost (which is logical); the Trinidad varieties consistently test higher on the Scoville Heat Scale pursuant to controlled tests at The Chile Institute, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and a competitive economic agricultural export was created.  

Lord Harris was responsible for introducing the heirloom Trinidad “Red Pepper” to India where the resultant cross created the Bhut Jolokia / Ghost Pepper.

• Philadelphia’s Creole Pepperpot;
  18th & 19th Century Seed Merchants

Illustrated in the 1810 pamphlet ‘Cries of Philadelphia’, street vendors of West Indian origin sang out: “Pepper pot, smoking hot!”  tempting passersby to purchase their hearty soup of meat and greens; the broth spiced with Fall Peppers (Habanero or Scot’s Bonnet Peppers), which hot peppers could be found growing on Swedish farms along the Delaware River as early as the mid-1600s (New Sweden).  By the 1700s, hot peppers were a popular trade import from the African Caribbean where a number of hot pepper varieties literally took root, growing prolifically throughout Philadelphia (a major port where many chile seed varieties would be shipped all over the world, and specifically to London and Paris by 18th and 19th century Philadelphia seed merchants).  

There were many chile pepper varieties listed growing in the garden of the London Horticultural Society.  See The Gardener’s Magazine and Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement, Volume 8, John Claudius London. London: Longman, Rees, Brown and Green (1832).   Also, there was an extensive list of varieties in “the London market gardens…grown in the Cucumber Houses…where a brisk heat and plenty of moisture are maintained.”  See The Vegetable Garden: Illustrations, Descriptions, and Culture of the Garden Vegetables of Cold and Temperate Climates, Vilmorin-Andrieux et cie. London: J. Murray (1885).

This free harvest, growing wild in flower boxes, gardens, and along the road byways, allowed the public and the German-speaking immigrants, i.e., Pennsylvania Dutch (corrupted from Deutsch, the German language, and which attribution had nothing to do with the Netherlands, Holland, or the Dutch), to utilize the chiles in endless varieties of hot pepper sauces, pepper vinegars (decoctions), and infused oils.  Some made a living hawking popular street foods such as Pepperpot soup.

 “…Women wandered the streets with trays selling their own version of a West African okra-based gumbo complete with foufou dumplings (pounded plantains or other vegetable starch) that would be known as Philadelphia’s pepperpot. The spicy dish, prepared from inexpensive cuts of meat and vegetables, was sold for pennies by hucksters of West Indian origin.” High on the Hog, a Culinary Journey From Africa to America, p. 72-73, Jessica B. Harris.

All Hot!  All Hot!
Pepper Pot!  Pepper Pot!
Makes backs strong.
Makes lives long.
All Hot! Pepper Pot!

Originating in Baltimore, Fish peppers, a cayenne pepper mutant, were known by colorful/ornamental white-striped green, yellow, orange, and red fruits.  These heirloom two-tone chiles were further distinguished by their dual sweet and hot pungency…with a wild nature of unstable genetics; similar to variations in Bird peppers. Different seeds are combined at the end of the growing season, so that the genetic mix was as varied and reliable as possible.

Fish peppers “employed in fish and shellfish cookery” appeared in the coastal hamlets of southern Maryland in the 1870s, “grown almost exclusively by African-American “truck farmers” who supplied restaurants and crab and oyster houses” throughout the region, thus the “fish” moniker. Fruiting white before turning a rainbow of colors, this “secret” ingredient (in many recipes), was added to the Baltimore and Philadelphia black caterers’ French/Creole-style cream sauces; in soups and popular in fish and shellfish dishes.  White fish peppers used fresh, and also dried to make white paprika, provided an additional layer of mellow flavor and spiciness, while alleviating the muddy reddish color of ripened Cayenne peppers.  

As to ripe red Cayennes (Guinea peppers); hot sauce and pepper sauce decoctions (chile-flavored vinegars) were bottled throughout the mid-Atlantic region (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and colonial Virginia for example) and distributed throughout the eastern United States; shipped around Florida to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River.

“Get one dozen pods of pepper (Cayenne, Fish, or Bird Peppers) when ripe, take out the stems, and cut them in two; put them in a kettle with three pints of vinegar, boil it away to one quart, and strain it through a sieve.  A little bit of this is excellent in gravy of every kind, and gives a flavor greatly superior to black pepper; it is also very fine when added to each of the various catsups for fish sauce.”
Published Recipe of Mary Randolph (Thomas Jefferson’s 1st cousin) in her 1825 book The Virginia Housewife.

Seeds of heirloom chile peppers including the Bullnose (bell) pepper introduced in 1759 and the Red Cherry Sweet before 1860, as well as rare varieties including the Black Bird’s Beak pepper, familiar to many 18th century gardeners, including Thomas Jefferson; were available through Landreth Seed Company, a company started in Montreal in 1780 and relocated (due to Canada’s harsh climate) to Philadelphia in 1784.  In the 1723 edition of American Weekly Mercury newspaper, a merchant shipper’s ad mentions the popular Cayenne pepper brought to Philadelphia from Caribbean ports.

“The method of selling seeds and plants changed dramatically in the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South after the Revolutionary War. The growth of urban economies gave rise to new commercial gardening ventures, nurseries, and seed stores, operated by professional gardeners who initially imported and then grew their own seed and plant stock.”
Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake 1700-1805; Barbara Wells Sarudy, Garden Historian.

Other heirloom varieties, including Willings Bird Pepper, were advertised by the early seed dealers.  Nursery owners and garden suppliers including botanist John Bartram (b.1739 – d.1823) and his son, William, from their Kingsessing farm; James Alexander imported seeds from London to Philadelphia (1751); and most notably, Hannah Davis Dubre, a Welsh woman who expanded her husband’s very successful business on their plantation after his death in 1768, by contracting agents in town to sell and supply retail and wholesale customers as well as international traders. Seed merchants supplied wealthy landowners, who maintained botanic collections in extensive gardens and greenhouses rivaling those in Europe; including William Hamilton in West Philadelphia and Robert Morris’ 300 acre (The Hills/Lemon Hill) estate (a very close friend of George Washington and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) on the Schuylkill River, “who also provided seeds and plants from their working estates to agents like Landreth and others.”  

In 1804, Landreth’s trainee, Bernard M’Mahon, printed the first seed catalog, and in 1806 Bernard published the first-ever gardening book in the United States, The America Gardener’s Calendar. M’Mahon’s 1806 seed catalog notes three hot pepper varieties {a bird pepper, a habanero variety, & a South American sweet hot resembling a Bishop’s Crown}.

2017, April 15 INDUCTEES … the New Mexico Connection

1. HISPANIC SETTLERS of the Upper Rio Grande Territories Spanish Entradas:
Antonio de Espejo Expedition 1582-1583 & Don Juan de Oñate Expedition 1598-1604
 SANTA CRUZ de la CAÑADA & CHIMAYO, NEW MEXICO

Initially seeking gold and souls to convert, with the incentive of land grants made available in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico did not achieve independence from Spain until 1821), beginning in 1534, organized entradas into the frontera norte brought small groups of Spanish settlers from Mexico City through Nueva Vizcaya (present-day northern Mexican states of Sonora &amp; Chihuahua). Traveling El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a 1,600 mile long trade route between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, from 1598 to 1882, the expeditions passed through El Paso del Norte (El Paso) to establish settlements and estancias (a grant of land for grazing sheep or cattle) in the northern frontier of New Spain, the upper Rio Grande territories (present-day northern New Mexico &amp; southern Colorado).

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador and Governor of New Galicia, an autonomous kingdom in New Spain (present-day Mexican states of Colima, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Zacatecas, &amp; Nayarit), who led a large expedition between 1540 and 1542 from Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States. Coronado was seeking the Cities of Cibola, i.e., the Seven Cities of Gold, now believed to be the Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico; discovering many noted landmarks and ending up in Quivira (Kansas) before returning unsuccessful in discovering the riches he was led to believe existed.

Don Antonio de Espejo led an expedition in 1582 – 1583 seeking gold and silver under the guise of the rescue of two Franciscan padres who remained behind in New Mexico from the Rodrigo-Sanchez converso (conversion of natives) expedition. Finding that the padres were killed by natives at Puaray and Tiquex, Espejo’s punishment was the execution of many inhabitants and the burning of their pueblos. The first mention of chile in the current United States came from the journal of one of the expedition members, Baltasar Obregón: “They have not chile, but the natives were given some seed to plant.”

Captain General Don Juan de Oñate, “Founder of New Mexico” and the “Last Conquistador”, led a group of 600 settlers, including soldiers and their families, Franciscan friars and padres, and colonists, arriving in present-day New Mexico in 1598. From Spanish nobility and well-educated, Oñate had the permission and authority of King Philip II of Spain to colonize the upper Rio Grande territories. Oñate
financed much of the expedition, as was customary, and was given the king’s appointment as the first governor and military commander of New Mexico.

The first Spanish settlement in New Mexico, called San Gabriel, was founded in 1598 along the banks of the Rio Grande near present-day Española, and across the river from the Okay-Owingeh (San Juan) Pueblo. The second settlement, San Juan de los Caballeros, was built shortly thereafter, and became New Mexico’s first capital under Governor Oñate. These settlements established the first ranchos and estancias in New Mexico to raise the thousands of cattle, sheep, swine, and horses brought with the expedition. By 1600 Oñate requested from the Viceroy in Mexico City more colonists, soldiers, Franciscan padres to convert the Pueblo Indians to the mission system, livestock, and financial assistance to support the fledgling colonies. With the king’s support, a second wave of Hispanic settlers arrived and with a good water supply from the many rivers, and development of the acequia irrigation system; crops were grown, including wheat, corn, melons, beans, apples, grapes, squash, and chile. Spanish allies, Tlaxcalteca Indians from central Mexico, who came with Oñate in 1598, laid out the acequia irrigation system. While life was harsh in a new land, the settlers who had faith in God remained. Most hispanos in New Mexico, including southern Colorado, can trace their lineage to these original colonists.

Landrace (or “Heirloom”) chiles grow in the same conditions and location for decades, adapting to their specific environment (diseases, pests, elevation, drought resistance), and develop distinct characteristics (squared shoulders, crooked pods, thin walls, color, etc.). Genetically, the chile grown in the upper Rio Grande territories has been linked to varieties of chiles domesticated in central Mexico introduced by the Hispanic colonists and grown in family plots. It is likely that the chile planted in the Española Basin is related and a descendant of the chile seeds introduced by the Espejo expedition, as noted by Obregón, but most likely brought by the Oñate expedition.

After the abandonment of San Gabriel and establishment of Santa Fe in 1610, settlements and plaza towns were founded throughout the upper Rio Grande (La Villa Nueva de Santa Cruz de Españoles Mexicanos del Rey Nuestro Carlos Segundo, Chimayo, Trampas, Truchas, Córdova/Pueblo Quemado, Ojo Caliente, Tres Piedras, El Rito, Chamita, Dixon, Velarde, Abiquiu, Talpa, Questa, Taos, etc.), often comprised of a group of Hispanic family adobe homes, a community chapel or morada, and for larger communities, a Spanish Colonial, or mission, church. Subsistence farming, requiring irrigation, provided for the family and crop rotation was practiced to prevent the fertility of the soil from eroding.

Some fortified colonial plaza towns, including Plaza del Cerro/Plaza de San Buenaventura de Chimayo (six miles east of Santa Cruz de la Cañada-which was one of four villas or “legally chartered town” established by the Spanish … Santa Fe, Albuquerque, &amp; El Paso were the others) were built on abandoned Tano Indian Pueblo sites. Many government records, journals, and historic documents address the importance of chiles in these Hispanic settlements where the fertile land and the Santa Cruz River and Rio Quemado provided the water necessary for agricultural success at Santa Cruz de la Cañada and at El Potrero and Plaza del Cerro, in the Chimayo district. Franciscan mission churches were built in earnest over the next seventy years to convert the indigenous Pueblo peoples. The missionaries oppression of the Pueblo villages to discard their katsina (kachina) culture, as well as the encomienda enslavement and indentured servitude of the Pueblo people; led to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, resulting in the Hispanic settlers fleeing New Mexico south to El Paso del Norte.

Over the next twelve years, three appointed governors attempted the reconquest of the New Mexico pueblos, destroying the Pueblo of Isleta (which did not participate in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt) and the Pueblo of Sandia; executing Pueblo leaders, taking prisoners from the Santa Ana and Zía pueblos and selling them into slavery. Many Tewa-speaking Pueblo Indians fled west to the Moki (Hopi) mesa villages in northern Arizona.

In 1692, Don Diego de Vargas and a contingent of exiled settlers and Franciscans in El Paso del Norte re-entered New Mexico, traveling the Jornado del Muerte {Journey of Death, a dry stretch of El Camino Real in central New Mexico}, re-establishing the Spanish colonization of New Mexico in 1693 and the following years. Two subsequent revolts in 1694 and 1696 were quashed pursuant to De Vargas&#39; ability to bequeath land grants to the colonizers who would return and take up arms with him against the revolting northern New Mexican Pueblos and reoccupy the frontera.

During this time the settlement of Santa Cruz de la Cañada was established in 1695 after Don Diego de Vargas&#39; reconquest of the Indian pueblos of northern New Mexico. According to the 1695 survey expedition of Luis Granillo, former alcalde mayor of Santa Cruz, he reported that the Chimayo settlements were the only upper valley ranchos before formal land grants were made in the Santa Cruz valley. Where the Chimayo district settlers were farming before re-settlement, the landrace Chimayo chile was the earliest domesticated chile grown for trade and barter in the New Mexico territories.

“Chile was an important crop from both a subsistence and economic perspective. Chimayo people have always eaten a lot of chile and have been famous for growing the best, most flavorful varieties. Everyone in Chimayo grew chile, and it was a common crop inside the Plaza as well as outside. In the fall, families and neighbors came together for the important task of tying strings of chile (ristras) in the fall.” The Tewa Basin Study (1935) noted that “Chimayo chile is famous throughout the Southwest.”

Place Name Varietals of Landrace Chimayó/Mirasol Chile:

Alcalde
Casados Native grown near Ohkay Owingeh, i.e., San Juan Pueblo (same landrace characteristics as San Juan/Tsile?)
Chimayó
Cochiti Pueblo
Dixon
El Guique
Embudo
Escondida
Española Improved
Isleta (south of ABQ)
Jarales (south of ABQ)
Jemez Pueblo
Nambé Supreme
Puerta de Luna
San Felipe Pueblo
San Juan Pueblo
Santo Domingo Pueblo
Taos Fiesta
Tsile (same landrace of San Juan Pueblo?/Tlaxcala Indian &amp; etymological origin,
Nahuatl/Mayan?)
Velarde
Zia Pueblo

2. FABIAN GARCIA [1871-1948] Known as “The Father of Mexican Food Industry in the United States”
— – All New Mexico Chile Varieties, including the “Anaheim”, owe their genetic base to Fabian Garcia’s New Mexico No. 9 cultivar — –
CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO & LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO

Born January 20, 1871 and orphaned in Chihuahua, Mexico, Fabian Garcia went to live in San Lorenzo, New Mexico, surviving the terror of Apache raids, and a specific
terrifying encounter at age nine in the Mimbres Valley before moving with his grandmother in 1885, (hired into the household of the vast Santo Thomas Spanish Land
Grant) south of Old Mesilla. Owned by prominent pioneers, Fabian was treated as family and afforded the opportunity to attend the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (NMCA & MA).

Professor of horticulture for forty-one years and member of the first NMCA & MA graduating class (1894) to the forerunner of present-day New Mexico State University (NMSU); around 1907, Dr. Fabian Garcia began a series of experiments establishing standardized chile pepper varieties. In 1913, Dr. Garcia became the first Hispanic director in the nation to lead a land grant agricultural research station. In 1921, chile pioneer Dr. Garcia took the traits of three distinctively New Mexico chile peppers and released “New Mexico 9”, the first stabilized chile with a dependable large-size meaty pod (from the long dark brown/deep green Chile Pasilla), color (red coloring from the Chile Colorado found in northern New Mexico, i.e., the Chimayo variety and also a smart choice for paprika production), and level of capsaicin, i.e., heat/spiciness level (from the somewhat black Chile Negro); opening up commercial venues for New Mexico chiles. Uniformity, making New Mexico varieties suited for mass production and subsequent hybrids, including the precursor to the hot Sandia chile; established the New Mexico chile pepper food industry.

Dr. Garcia pioneered the “raised-bed” method of growing chile peppers to reduce the disease caused by phytophthora, a root rot caused by water mold; a growing method rediscovered to increase yields by those not aware of his earlier research.

Interestingly, Dr. Garcia was purportedly instrumental in the improvement of the Pueblo chile, a mirasol “looking (mira) at the sun (sol) ” variety, characterized by the upright growth of the chile pod facing the sun (as opposed to pendulant “hanging down”), brought into the United States from Mexico circa 1910. While the very recent claim (the Pueblo vs. Hatch Chile war) is the southern Colorado “Pueblo” chile is superior to the New Mexico varieties, the Pueblo chile was first commercially grown in 2005, a hundred years after haphazardly being grown in small plots before current crop breeding methods were introduced. The first domesticated New Mexico chile peppers, i.e., Mesilla “Hatch” valley varieties, were brought up from central Mexico with the Spanish entradas to northern New Mexico at the end of the 16 th century. Not only is there a direct connection with the early Hispanic settlers of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, when at the time the present area of southern Colorado (did not exist) was part of the New Mexico Territory (and not recognized in present boundaries until 1854); Dr. Fabian’s influence is also imprinted on the “Pueblo” chile.

Honoring his legacy at NMSU, recognition of Dr. Garcia’s pioneering research includes naming the university’s 45-acre horticultural farm; naming several meeting and residence halls; and recognition in several named scholarship programs.

3. EMILIO ORTEGA [1857-1942]
— Created California’s 1st Commercial Cannery to Process the “Anaheim” variety of New Mexico Green Chile and one of the 1 st Salsa Producers in the United States —
VENTURA, ANAHEIM, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Raised in a Mexican adobe in Ventura, Emilio Carlos Ortega, the 11 th (of 13) child, came from a pioneering Californio family. Ortega’s grandfather, José Francisco Ortega, was the chief scout for Gaspar de Portolá on the first Spanish exploration of California in 1769. José Ortega accompanied Fray Junipero Serra on his 1782 expedition to found Mission San Buenaventura. Grandfather José received an early Spanish land grant after retiring in 1795 from the Santa Barbara Presidio as the first commandant.
California transitioned from Mexican Territory to statehood in 1850.

Emilio’s father, Emigdio Ortega, built the family adobe around 1857 on former mission property. In 1897, Emilio started the “Pioneer Ortega Chili Company” in the family adobe, inventing a method for roasting and canning green chiles in his mother’s kitchen … the birthplace of the extensive Ortega Mexican food empire. Later, the E.C. Ortega Company operated in a wood frame shed next to the adobe home. The Ortega Adobe Historic Residence is now on the National Register of Historic Places (CA VEN 785H).

After moving to New Mexico in 1890 and working at several businesses (clerk, business student, grocery store owner, rancher (vaquero) in San Diego, superintendent at a New Mexico railroad) with little success, Emilio became enamored with the New Mexico Green Chile he came to enjoy. Purportedly due to ill health, Emilio returned to Ventura in 1894 bringing seeds to grow in the family plot. In the rich soil of southern California, Ortega’s crop proliferated and Emilio could not give them all away, having to let some rot.

Ortega figured a way to preserve the mild chile peppers, by canning, and the label featured a sketch of the adobe home. The ability to have consistent green chiles available year-round, with the surplus green chiles used for “Tru Salsa”, created a demand in the Southwest. Around 1902 the E.C. Ortega Company moved the canning facility to Los Angeles. Not only did Ortega revolutionize the canning industry, but to meet the demand of his products, Emilio contracted with farmers across southern California using his seeds, with a large concentration of growers around Anaheim.

The New Mexico Green Chile Ortega brought to California became known as “Anaheim” chiles. Emilio convinced farmers to stagger the planting of seed to stretch the growing season and to increase the yield. The family sold the packing business after Emilio’s death in 1942 and the cannery was moved to Oxnard, south of Ventura. Ortega Mexican Foods is presently owned by the behemoth B & G Foods.