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Monday, October 24, 2005

Project Seeks To Protect Historic Chimayo Chile Strain


Associated Press
      CHIMAYO — Chimayo chile could become a trademark, protecting a strain grown around the northern New Mexico since the 17th century.
    Plenty of red chile products carry the Chimayo label, but most aren't grown there, said state Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans.
    "People with no relation to Chimayo are taking the name and using it to make a lot of money,'' he said.
    Farmers, preservationists and government officials met Sunday to form a plan to save Chimayo's famous red chile. If their effort succeeds, only chile grown locally with a pure strain could be labeled Chimayo, Homans said.
    A trademark also could mean more money for Chimayo farmers. Homans said that in general, specialty goods sell for five to 10 times more than regular produce, and attract chefs in major culinary areas.
    Marie Campos of the Santa Fe Institute for Native Hispanic Culture has been working on the project since April, and said that although the chile has been famous for decades, she's found only five Chimayo families who grow the local strain.
    She and Chimayo residents have been discussing how to restore long-neglected acequias and grow chile on land owned by farmers who themselves are too old to tend a field.
    The institute also has formed a partnership with Santa Fe County to grow chile on seven acres of public land behind Santuario de Chimayo. The plan calls for experienced local farmers to raise chile there, showing the process to younger farmers, Campos said.
    The first priority, however, is to harvest as much chile seed as possible. Right now, there isn't enough to support the endeavor, Campos said.
    "That's how low it's dwindled,'' she said. "Those that have it are holding on tight. The chile's almost extinct.''
    The idea is that next year's harvest on the public land and the harvest on five private farms contracted with the institute will be enough for 23 acres of chile for the following harvest.
    "This species is unique. There's no other chile like it genetically,'' Campos said.
    In the 1800s, Chimayo red became famous and nearly all Chimayo families grew it, she said. But when Los Alamos National Laboratories opened in the 1943, many farmers took jobs there and production gradually decreased.
    Homans said that without the preservation effort, "this could have been lost forever.''