Chile Pepper Institute

Last updated

Chile Pepper Institute
ChilePepperInstituteLogo.jpg
Founded1992;30 years ago (1992)
PurposeTo research, teach, and archive information related to chile peppers
Location
Coordinates 32°16′50″N106°45′27″W / 32.2806°N 106.7575°W / 32.2806; -106.7575 Coordinates: 32°16′50″N106°45′27″W / 32.2806°N 106.7575°W / 32.2806; -106.7575
Website cpi.nmsu.edu

The Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is an international research-based and non-profit organization specializing in research, education and archiving information related to Capsicum or chile peppers. The institute was established in 1992 and is devoted to research and educating the world about chile peppers. Its research facility is named for Fabián García, a Mexican-American horticulturalist dubbed "the father of the U.S. chile pepper industry", who began standardizing varieties of chile pepper in 1888. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Overview

The Chile Pepper Institute is a research institute and is the only international organization that is devoted to the research, resource, and education of chile peppers. The institute helps and promotes the iconic and famous state vegetable of New Mexico. CPI is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on the campus of New Mexico State University, and research is conducted at the Fabian Garcia Horticultural Center, where it also showcases 100–200 varieties of chile pepper from around the world. Paul W. Bosland is the current director and the co-founder of The Chile Pepper Institute, who is also a professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University, where he leads the chile breeding and genetics research program. [4]

The Chile Pepper Institute is responsible for discovering the then world's hottest chile pepper, the Bhut Jolokia, led by Paul W. Bosland, and confirmed by the Guinness World Records in the Fall of 2006. [5] Many interesting records about chile peppers are discovered at the Chile Pepper Institute including the world's largest chile pepper, the Numex Big Jim specimen, that was developed in 1976 at NMSU, [6] and the recently released specimen chile pepper, NuMex Heritage 6-4, which is five times the flavor of a standard green chile. [7] CPI also host different programs, events and conferences in local, national, and international levels. These include:

Cultivars

A NuMex Twilight plant with fruit in various stages of ripeness Numex.twilight.100x.jpg
A NuMex Twilight plant with fruit in various stages of ripeness

The Chile Pepper Institute produces numerous pepper cultivars in unusual colors and shapes, such as the NuMex Twilight, a hybrid based on the Thai Ornamental pepper. [8] The peppers of the Twilight start out white, turn purple, then move through yellow and orange, becoming red when fully ripe, producing a rainbow effect on the green plant. [9] Other varieties, such as the NuMex Centennial and NuMex Easter move through other color ranges. [10] [11] The NuMex April Fools has bundles of purple peppers which point upward, resembling a jester hat. [12]

Related Research Articles

Scoville scale Scale for measuring spiciness of peppers

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the pungency of chili peppers, as recorded in Scoville Heat Units (SHU), based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component.

Jalapeño Hot pepper

The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum. A mature jalapeño chile is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of 25–38 mm wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scoville heat units of 4,000 to 8,500. Commonly picked and consumed while still green, it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turn red, orange, or yellow. It is wider and generally milder than the similar Serrano pepper.

New Mexico State University Public university in New Mexico, U.S.

New Mexico State University is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the United States. Founded on September 17, 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in the state of New Mexico. It is one of two flagship universities in New Mexico. Total enrollment across all campuses as of 2017 was 21,874, with branch campuses in Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Doña Ana County and Grants, and with extension and research centers across New Mexico.

Red Savina pepper Chili pepper

The Red Savina pepper is a cultivar of the habanero chili, which has been selectively bred to produce spicier, heavier, and larger fruit, ultimately more potent than its derivative.

The New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station is a system of scientists who work on facilities on the main campus in Las Cruces and at 12 agricultural science and research centers located throughout the state of New Mexico. It facilitates and administers the botanical gardens, the NMCR herbarium, and other agricultural facilities associated with New Mexico State University.

Pequin pepper

Pequinpepper is a hot chili pepper cultivar commonly used as a spice. Pequin peppers are very hot, often 5–8 times hotter than jalapeños on the Scoville scale. Flavor is described as citrusy and nutty.

NuMex

NuMex is the moniker used for products created by the Agriculture Experimentation Station of New Mexico State University.

New Mexico State Aggies baseball

The New Mexico State Aggies baseball team represents New Mexico State University, which is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Aggies are an NCAA Division I college baseball program that competes in the Western Athletic Conference. They began competing in Division I in 1962 and joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2006.

Trinidad Moruga scorpion Exceptionally hot chili pepper

The Trinidad Moruga scorpion is a chili pepper native to the village of Moruga, Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of the spiciest chilies in the world. In 2012, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute identified the Trinidad Moruga scorpion as the hottest chili at that time, with heat of 1.2 million Scoville heat units (SHUs). In 2017 according to Guinness World Records, the hottest pepper was the Carolina Reaper, with 1.6 million SHU.

Ghost pepper Chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India

The ghost pepper, also known as bhut jolokia, is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India. It is a hybrid of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens.

New Mexico chile Cultivar group of chile peppers from New Mexico, United States

New Mexico chile or New Mexican chile is a cultivar group of the chile pepper from the US state of New Mexico, first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communities throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México. These landrace chile plants were used to develop the modern New Mexico chile peppers by horticulturist Dr. Fabián García and his students, including Dr. Roy Nakayama, at what is now New Mexico State University in 1894. New Mexico chile, which typically grows from a green to a ripened red, is popular in the cuisines of the Southwestern United States, including Sonoran and Arizonan cuisine, and an integral staple of New Mexican cuisine. It is also sometimes featured in the broader Mexican cuisine. Chile is one of New Mexico's state vegetables, and is referenced in the New Mexico state question "Red or Green?".

<i>Capsicum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit.

Habanero Strain of chili (Capsicum)

The habanero is a hot variety of chili. Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. The most common color variants are orange and red, but the fruit may also be white, brown, yellow, green, or purple. Typically, a ripe habanero is 2–6 centimetres long. Habanero chilis are very hot, rated 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale. The habanero's heat, flavor and floral aroma make it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and other spicy foods.

Hottest chili pepper Informal competition

Especially among growers in the US, the UK, and Australia, there has been a competition since the 1990s to grow the hottest chili pepper. Chili pepper species and cultivars registering over 1,000,000 Scoville Heat units (SHU) are called "super-hots".

Elba Serrano Professor of Neuroscience

Elba E. Serrano is a neuroscientist and biophysicist who holds a position as a Regent's Professor of Biology at New Mexico State University.

Fabián García Mexican-American horticulturist

Dr. Fabián García was a Mexican-American horticulturist who has been described as "the father of the New Mexican food industry". Among other things, he helped to develop new varieties of chile peppers, pecans, and onions that are still grown in New Mexico. For example, in 1921, he introduced the 'New Mexico No. 9', a strain of chile pepper which became the genetic ancestor of all New Mexico chiles.

The Sandia pepper or Sandia chile pepper is a New Mexico chile pepper cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum with a scoville rating which ranges from mild to hot. This cultivar is extensively grown in New Mexico where it was developed and is popular in New Mexican cuisine. Sandia peppers picked while still green are typically roasted to produce green chile. When ripened, this variety can be dried and ground to make chile powder. Sandia peppers grown and consumed in New Mexico are most commonly used to make red or green posole, green chile stew, and carne adovada.

Big Jim pepper Cultivar of New Mexico chile pepper

The Big Jim pepper is a New Mexico chile pepper cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum with a Scoville rating of mild. This cultivar is extensively grown in New Mexico where it was developed and is popular in New Mexican cuisine. Big Jim peppers are both sweet and mild and are normally picked while still green. The fruits are large and thick walled, often exceeding over a foot in length, and they are almost exclusively used to produce roasted green chile in New Mexican cuisine.

New Mexico No. 9, also known as NuMex No. 9, Number 9 pepper or simply No. 9, was the first of the New Mexican chile pod types of chile peppers. It is an heirloom chile, grown today only in special quantities in New Mexico, United States. It was also the first New Mexico chile cultivar to be bred for commercial growth. It was released to growers in 1913 by Mexican-American horticulturist Dr. Fabián García, who began selecting local breeds in 1894 for improvement. The No. 9 helped to cement chile as a staple food of New Mexican cuisine.

References

  1. ↑ Fryxell, David A. (December 2007). "The Red-or-Greening of New Mexico". Desert Exposure. 100 years ago, horticulturalist Fabian Garcia planted the seeds for New Mexico's $400 million chile-pepper industry
  2. ↑ "Fabian Garcia Science Center". NMSU: Fabian Garcia Science Center. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to the Chile Pepper Institute!". The Chile Pepper Institute. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2015. Chile pepper research is conducted at the Fabian Garcia Horticultural Center
  4. ↑ "Paul W. Bosland". New Mexico State University. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  5. ↑ Bannister, Justin (May 1, 2009). "NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute gets fired up with 'Holy Jolokica' hot sauce". New Mexico State University.
  6. ↑ "Database of Chile Pepper Varieties". The Chile Man.
  7. ↑ Bosland, Paul W. (2012). "'NuMex Heritage 6-4' New Mexican Chile Pepper" (PDF). New Mexico State University, HortScience. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 19, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2015. The New Mexico Chile Pepper Breeding and Genetics Program announces the release of ‘NuMex Heritage 6-4’
  8. ↑ "NuMex Twilight: A Rainbow Of Fire". PepperScale. August 29, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ Diacono, Mark (February 25, 2012). "Take a fresh look at cool chille peppers". The Telegraph . Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Anderson, Neil O. (October 4, 2007). Flower Breeding and Genetics: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9781402065699.
  11. ↑ Winter, Norman. "Garden Guru: NuMex Easter peppers bring bold colors, flavors". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Southern Gardening: Try NuMex, other ornamental peppers". The Commercial Dispatch. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
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