Well, thisd homesick New mexican was in need of a green chile fix, and
I couldn't afford to get my chiles roasted and frozen, then shipped in
dry ice like i did last year It was suggested to me that I culd get
fresh ones and roast them myself to save weight, thus shipping cost,
and so I attempted this option.
Got a friend to send me a bushel of hots from my favorite farm stand.
Apparently, he misunderstood my directions and sent them via ground
instead of 2-day, thus resulting in a 10-day trip for my poor chiles.
When they arrived, about 1/3 of the box was moldy. probably were
exposed to moisture/heat in the UPS truck.
So, I sorted out the moldy ones, rinsed off the others, and began
separating my precious green chiles from the ones that had ripened and
turned red in transit. That eliminated about another 1/4 or so. I'm
attempting to dry those by stringing them into ristras and hanging them
in the sunny kitchen window.
Now onto the greens. I roasted them over my BBQ grill, which is pretty
close to usnig a propane chile roaster. The flavor came out perfectly,
just the way I like them. I knew to put them in a trash bag and 'sweat'
them before putting them into smaller ziplcs for freezing. I noticed,
however, that many of them were really puny compared to what i've
always gotten in NM. Very few of these chiles were big enough to make
rellenos. Maybe the size of my finger was the average length; generally
they are 6 - 8 inches at least.
Somehow, getting 22.5 lbs of fresh chiles shipped via UPS ground also
managed to cost about $10 MORE than having 20 lbs frozen and shipped
overnight in 10 lbs of dry ice. So i paid more and worked harder for
less chile this year.
A bummer....salvaged only by the wonderful smell of the green chile
enchiladas cooking in my oven right now.
Not sure if I should be sad or happy to have at least one pan of $50
enchildas here......