Sandia pepper


The Sandia 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 chili. When ripened, this variety can be dried and ground to make chili powder. Sandia peppers grown and consumed in New Mexico are most commonly used to make red or green posole, green chili stew, and carne adovada.

History

The Sandia pepper cultivar was developed at New Mexico State University by Dr. Roy Harper in 1956 by cross breeding a Numex No. 9 type with a Californian Anaheim-type chile. This variety of chili pepper is of moderate heat and is widely grown and consumed in New Mexico. Sandia peppers are consumed both as green chili as well as ripe red chilies, and are also dried into ristras. They are considered high yielding with relatively large fruits. In common with most New Mexico chili cultivars, Sandia peppers are somewhat variable in their fruiting and produce individual peppers of varying heat, with most of the peppers being mild, and an occasional extremely hot pepper. Removing the seeds from the peppers before cooking or consuming them significantly reduces the heat of this variety of pepper.