Texto: Kristi Pihl, Tri-City Herald
Spicy or sweet, oblong or round, chili peppers fill the
passionate hearts of a few Columbia Basin farmers.
At Alvarez Organic Farms of Mabton, chili peppers are
Hilario Alvarez's specialty. "That is what he really loves growing," said
Eddie Alvarez, Hilario's son.
Alvarez Organic Farms has more than 150 varieties of
chili peppers covering about 30 acres, he said. And his dad continues to create
new varieties each year by cross-pollinating chili pepper plants to meet the
demand he sees.
For Rudy Pea, his passion for chili peppers took him from
growing peppers in his Kennewick backyard to filling a half-acre on a Pasco
field with more than 5,000 plants.
Pea's efforts to create a blend from his peppers for wife
Michelle's eggs resulted in the Tri-City blend sold by his small business,
Rudy's Pepperblends.
Washington doesn't make it on the list of states that
produce the most chili peppers -- unlike California, Arizona, New Mexico and
Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
And Washington's 55 acres are barely a blip in the 22,100
acres grown nationwide. The state may not make the list of top chili growers,
but chilies are among the more than 300 crops grown in Washington, making us
one of the most agriculturally diverse states.
The national production is valued at $146.8 million, with
4.8 million cwt, or hundredweight, of chilies produced in 2011, according to
the USDA.
But that doesn't stop Alvarez Organic Farms from being
well known for its chili peppers and its edible chili pepper wreaths, Eddie
Alvarez said.
Chili peppers range from sweet to hot and are good for
everything from roasting and grilling to creating salsa, he said. They add
color and a little kick to practically any dish.
"A lot of people think that peppers are just
hot," he said.
But some peppers, like the sugar baby, are so sweet, he
said it's almost like eating candy.
The ghost pepper is one of the hottest that both Alvarez
and Pea grow. Pea said it's rated 1 million on the Scoville scale that rates
the heat of chili peppers, unlike jalapeos, which are about 10,000.
Both Pea and Alvarez are harvesting chili peppers by hand
now.
Alvarez said his family and their crew of 15 started
harvesting chili peppers in August. He hopes to continue harvesting through the
first few weeks of November, but that's all dependent on Mother Nature, he
said. They harvest 40 to 50 tons of chilies a year.
It's time intensive to pick chili peppers, especially the
tiny ones, Alvarez said. One of the smallest is called bird beak, and while
small, it packs a spicy punch.
Once the first frost hits, Alvarez said they will go full
throttle to pick everything they can before the first large frost comes.
Pea started picking at the end of August. The first
freeze will mark the end of his harvest. If not for the freezes, Pea said the
plants would last 20 to 30 years.
Instead, Alvarez and Pea said they tend to start planting
pepper plants in greenhouses in February each year.
By May, Alvarez is planting the pepper plants on about a
quarter of his 120 acres. He grows about 250 varieties of vegetables, including
bell peppers, squash, potatoes, onions, okra, beans and corn.
Water for the plants, Pea said, is critical.
By late July, the green peppers had started to change
color, Pea said.
Chili peppers start green, and as they turn color, they
become more flavorful and hotter, Alvarez said. While some like to use the
green chili peppers, most customers wait for the red ones.
Red tends to be the final color for chili peppers,
although they may turn purple or yellow before going to red. And some will
become a bright orange or yellow chili pepper, he said.
On some plants at Pea's field, different types of the
peppers can be seen. A cross between a Thai dragon and a pequin pepper plant
has small, round peppers like the original pequin, and a skinny, stubby version
of a Thai dragon and a longer, sweeter version of the normal Thai dragon.
Pea said his varieties have continued to increase in the
past six years as his plants have cross-pollinated themselves, creating new
ones.
One benefit is that more of his chili peppers will just
fall off the stem, instead of having to use fingernails to peel the stem from
the top of the pepper, Pea said.
Next year, Pea said he plans to grow fewer plants. This
year, he had more than he needed. It's too much for one person, he said.
Pea dries, smokes and grinds them. He uses the Pasco
Specialty Kitchen to create his products, including blends of chili peppers,
which can be used for cooking, and a dry salsa blend that customers add to a
can of diced tomatoes.
Rudy's Pepperblends are available at the Pasco and
Richland farmers markets, the Kennewick Red Apple Market, Country Mercantile
and Pasco's Knutzen's Meats.
Alvarez said his dad got into chili peppers while he was
growing them in Mexico for another farmer.
Once he moved to the United States and started his farm
35 years ago, that's what he started growing.
Pepper wreaths are something his dad came up with. Once
they are hung in a cool, dry place for a few weeks, they can be saved all year
and used as dried peppers, he said.
Alvarez said he started drying chili peppers about five
years ago. He's tried smoking them with mesquite or hickory or drying them to
make a nice chipotle pepper.
Alvarez sells his peppers at the Pasco Farmers Market and
other farmers markets, including many in the Seattle area. He also sells chili
peppers to restaurants, grocery stores and even a chocolatier.
Data: 06.10.2012
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