-How do I know when to pick green chile, before it starts to turn red?

-As chiles ripen, the pods become more firm. A gentle squeeze of the pod is the best method to test when to pick a chile. If the pod is firm with a slight crackling sound when you squeeze it, it should be ready.



-What is a "New Mexico Green Chile"?

-Around 1888, Fabian Garcia, a horticulturist at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (NMSU today), began his first experiments on breeding a more standardized New Mexican chile. In 1896, Emilio Ortega (at the time, sheriff of Ventura County, CA), after visiting southern New Mexico, brought back chile seeds and planted them near Anaheim. They adapted well to the soil and climate, and this New Mexican chile adopted the name of Anaheim. This name has stuck with this particular pod type for many years. In 1907, Fabian Garcia was finally able to release his first standardized New Mexican pod type, after experimenting with many strains of pasilla, Colorado, and negro chiles, he released New Mexico No. 9. This was the granddaddy of all future standard New Mexico pod types, and became the standard New Mexican chile until 1950. In 1987, Anaheim became a variety under the New Mexican pod type category.
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Jane Butel Cooking School
2655 Pan American NE, Ste F Albuquerque NM 87107
Office: 505-243-2622
TOLL FREE: 1-800-473-8226
info@janebutelcooking.com

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  About Jane

Credited with starting the Tex-Mex mania, Jane Butel published her first cookbook on New Mexican and American Mexican food in the 1960's. Eighteen cookbooks later, her latest cookbook, “Real Women Eat Chiles” features the healthy aspects of chiles, and profiles some of the real women who eat them.

Jane Butel is an internationally recognized authority on the regional cooking of the American Southwest. The daughter and granddaughter of accomplished home economists, Ms. Butel is a cookbook author, teacher and television personality whose most recent television project, "Jane Butel's Southwestern Kitchen", is being presented to public television stations nationwide by KUHT-TV, Houston PBS.

Ms. Butel's interest in Southwestern cooking predates its current widespread popularity by decades. She was the first to write about the cooking style that evolved in the Southwestern border area, and is credited with starting our nation's love affair with this cuisine.

Having consulted with such major chains as Del Taco, El Torrito and Zona Rosa, and with Luxury Hotels, she is now in her 25 th year of operating her own Cooking Schools in various locations in New Mexico and Scottsdale, AZ., which have been recognized far and wide for the quality of instruction. Jane's Cooking School specializes in week long and weekend full-participation classes on New Mexican and Southwestern cooking. BON APPETIT magazine credits her Cooking School as the "BEST IN THE U.S." VACATION SCHOOL.

At her Satellite Cooking School   in the award winning La Hacienda restaurant in the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort in Scottsdale, AZ., she specializes in teaching favorite Regional Mexican dishes, simplified. The Schools have received rave reviews from the culinary press including being rated as the Best in the US and one of the 10 best hotel cooking schools in the world by Gayot hotel rating service .

Prior to following her passion for Southwestern cooking, she was a corporate marketing executive for four major corporations, American Express, General Electric, Con Edison and Public Service Company of New Mexico. Through her writing, teaching and television projects, she continues to season this country's melting pot with the rich culinary, cultural and historical heritage of the American Southwest. Ms. Butel is listed in Who's Who in American Women, Outstanding Young Women, Platinum Who's Who and the World Who's Who. She is a member of the New York City chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier and the International Association of Culinary Professionals among other affiliations.

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