![]() ![]() ![]() Put 3 cups of red chile sauce into a large plastic freezer bag.It is a simple meal that evokes nostalgia and fond memories of being at my grandmother’s table. When shredded the chicken has a brisket texture that is ideal with homemade tortillas. It can be cubed or shredded based on you plan to use it. Like carne adovada, the slow roasting makes the meat incredibly tender. Red Chile Chicken AdovadaĪs the temperatures plummet during the winter months, one of my favorite ways to use red chile is to make chicken adovada. They have frozen green and red chile available throughout the year. For brief periods of time during harvest, they ship both green and red fresh in 25-lb boxes. They ship an extraordinary amount of chile from the Hatch valley throughout the state and the nation. Several of today’s largest chile producers are descendants of Joe and Celestina, including the owners of The Hatch Chile Store based in Las Cruces. Joe Franzoy passed away in 1969, and Celestina followed him at the age of 92 in 1976, but they planted the seeds of the chile legacy associated with Hatch, with the fifth and sixth generations carrying on the family traditions. The original sixty acres expanded to thirty-five farms owned by the Franzoy family, as well as several other farms managed by Franzoys. As Joe and Celestina grew older, Joe bought land for each of his children. Year after year Joe and Celestina worked, facing challenges side by side, raising a family, and building a life for themselves. Passing on the Traditionīy 1929 he had 43 cows, including 30 dairy cows that needed to be milked before breakfast. Big Jim, Lumbria and Legacy peppers are products of this collaboration. Over the decades Joe and his progeny became chile connoisseurs, working with the agriculture department at New Mexico State University to cultivate heirloom varieties and to develop high yield hybrids. Joe was one of the first chile producers to ship out of state, supplying chile to California by 1919. Though the family wasn’t familiar with chile when they arrived, they were quickly introduced to the piquant pepper that defines New Mexico’s cuisine, incorporating it into their annual crops early on. ![]() They gradually expanded their production and distribution to include markets further afield, like Fort Bayard and Las Cruces. They cleared the six acres of good land and planted vegetables, selling in larger markets nearby. Celestina and the children joined him in February, 1918. Fifty-four acres of the parcel were within the flood plain of the Rio Grande bosque, with six acres suitable for farming. In 1917, Joe purchased sixty acres along the Rio Grande near Salem, New Mexico. For 15 years Joe struggled to overcome a variety of challenges, obstacles and hardships, but he never gave up on his dream to own and farm a piece of land. When construction dried up, he worked in the mines. When the railroad work dried up, Joe found a job in construction. After landing a job with the railroad, Joe sent for his family. With a growing family and a desire to work the land, Joe headed to Arizona to secure work. They were married on December 23, 1905.Īfter four and a half years in Michigan, and the birth of three children, Joe’s eyes turned west. He sent money back to Austria to pay for Celestina to join him. When Joe immigrated to the United States in 1905, he worked the iron mines in Michigan. They were playmates as children, sweethearts as teenagers and, later, the husband and wife team that contributed to the agricultural legacy and chile legend of Hatch. At the time Hatch was not synonymous with chile. When Celestina Mary Formolo and Joseph Carlos Franzoy arrived in New Mexico 82 years ago they didn’t know anything about growing peppers. This family owned operation is part of an agricultural legacy that began in Hatch, New Mexico several generations ago. They supply hundreds of restaurants and food suppliers in the state with green and red chile. ![]() The Hatch Chile Store, located in Las Cruces, grows, produces and ships genuine Hatch chile nationwide. ![]()
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