None of my seed germinated, so maybe they are difficult to grow??

I ordered some from Peppermania and they are doing fine. A couple sprouted after just a few days.

I've never tried them but read they are not as hot as other peppers so got them to give my roommates a milder pepper (heat wise) that they could enjoy. I also got Chilhuacle Negro and Fresno for them as well.

Sometimes I have to realize it's not all about me. :)

Here is a place I buy my chipotle from. Much better price on Chimayo

Here is a link that might be useful: Pendrys

try this and search for Chimayo--they don't seem to have the dried pods but have the powder for $9.87/lb. I have dealt with them in the past and been happy with them.

http://www.penderys.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Pendrys

I grew some a couple of years ago. I remember the seeds took longer to germinate than the others I was growing, so they got into the garden later and I didn't get many ripe ones. The season here is hot but short. I had to harvest them green, hang them up and what ripened I let dry, then ground with other peppers for powder so I can't really comment on the the individual taste. I should try them again sometime. Here's a related thread with a bit more info:

Here is a link that might be useful: Chimayo Peppers

I grew a version from Casada Farms in New Mexico. It had mild heat and a hint of sweet. This picture was taken 9/16

Skyclad: Chimayo is the finest quality of chile pepper known to mankind and a rare native food item. Like Caviar, the cost of authentic Chimayo is based on production quantity and quality.

fiedlermeister: Unfortunately, most people have never tasted authentic Chimayo since there are unethical companies that sell imposter chilies using that name. They use the name Chimayo to make money by falsely advertizing other types of chile as "de Chimayo", "Chimayo Style", "Chimayo Blend" etc

For example, the chilies sold from the websites www.penderys.com (advertized in blog), www.loschileros, chowhound.chow.com, www.cibolojunction.com are all in violation of Chimayo trademark and the chile sold from those sites are not authentic. They need to stop using the Chimayo name falsely, and/or without permission (I think it is called cease and desist).

Authentic Chimayo chile will have the registration symbol following the name [Chimayo ®] and a certification number on the label. If those two things are not on the label, you can bet your last dollar that it is not the real thingÂotherwise they would just get certified and not use the name illegally.

Sorry to say...referring to the picture posted, although the chile carries some of the Chimayo traits, it appears that the Casada Farms has a cross-pollinated strain of chile... the stem top is rounded...instead of indented like real Chimayo.

If you search around you'll find a few chimayo discussions including some on the piece of legislature involving the "chimayo" name/location branding.

It's my favorite drying pepper. I wish they weren't so seedy, but they are great to cook with. I usually de-seed mine before I dry them so it's not a huge deal with it's time to crush a few pods down.

SELLS-FAKE-CHIMAY0-www.penderys.com, FAKE-CHIMAY0-www.loschileros, SELLS-FAKE-CHIMAY0-chowhound.chow.com, SELLS-FAKE-CHIMAY0-www.cibolojunction.com in violation of Chimayo trademark. Public Notice

@chimayo_farmer

any suggestions on where I can find the real deal? Did a google search but could not find anyone selling seed with the trademark.

I would love to grow some next season.

Chimayo seeds grown outside of the designated area in NM they're grown in cannot legally be called "chimayo." That's the issue...kinda.

It's one of those regional trademark things that's common in the wine/cheese markets. The regional climate, how they're grown, etc etc...they now make up what is "chimayo" as much as the seed itself.

It's why "crips pink" apples are not "pink lady" apples even though they come from the same tree.

There are...as we as gardeners would consider...chimayo seeds out there, but marketing them as chimayo peppers/seeds/products no longer makes it a chimayo.

Myself...I support this kind of regional trademarking and quality control of their niche product...no problem what so ever...

It does cause a bit of confusion, though...especially since we don't see this kind of stuff in the vegetable seed world very often.

Eventually the seed we consider "chimayo" will take on a new common name that's more widespread and it will sort itself out.

@ chimayo_farmer

Are you willing to sell some genuine Chimayo (R) peppers with good seeds inside that will germinate to some of us here on GW. Or tell us where we can buy such peppers or seeds.

If you are not willing to do that then we will have to assume that the genetics of the sellers you claim are FAKE are really selling identical genetics.

It is ridiculous to claim exclusivity to your product if you are not going to sell it to the public that desires it. We are then forced to go to those who do sell it even if you claim it is FAKE.

So what say you?

Yes chimayo farmer, where can you buy good seeds? I have one
plant growing with peppers on it, Should turn red soon, I bought
the seeds from Peppermania.

@nc-crn

I don't know, I'm torn on the issue.

While I fully respect intellectual right, copyrights, trademarks, etc, on the other side of the coin I don't think it's right for a person, corporation or group of people to be able to copyright and trademark something that is natural and from OUR earth.

From what I've read the Chimayo has been around for hundred of years at least, and is claimed to be native to NM which means it's a naturally occurring plant. I don't think it's right for something like that to be "owned" as property. We all as humans on earth should have the same right to that pepper.

Now if someone spent years developing a hybrid and came up with something that is not found native in nature, then yes you should be able to own the rights.

END POLITICAL RANT (sorry)

Yeah, it's grey-area stuff.

Vidalia onions are only grown in 1 area and it's part of the soil profile of the area and how they're culturally grown that gets growers in that "club."

You can still buy plenty of "regular" sweet onions, though...even the ones they're putting in their fields.

I'm not a fan of the co-opting of the entire "chimayo" name in this case, but I don't mind the actual regional trademarking of quality niche agriculture.

Dave Dewitt calls Chimayo a "land-race" chile, which is some other type of chile (in this case NuMex No. 9) that is grown in a certain location and takes on local characteristics. Can a chile you name after your town really be a registered trademark?

I will correct my own post. After further review, the Chimayo was growing land race style long before the NuMex No. 9. According to the site below, it has been grown in the Chimayo area for over 300 years. It apparently descended from varieties first brought to the US from Mexico.

It is even worse than you may have thought, besides being in violation of Chimayos trademark rights, FAKE CHIMAYO CHILE does not contain the genetic seed Capsicum annuum cv. 'Chimayo' ...so we shall not assume that just because a company slaps the Chimayo name on a chile package that it is the genetic strain of Capsicum annuum cv. 'Chimayo'...that is bull. CV. Means that it comes from Chimayo. If you have had the authentic chile it is pretty easy to tell a FAKE. It is clear that some of you have been tricked.

Again: There is a saying in Northern New Mexico about the cheap substitutes found on the market, "After eating Chimayo chile, eating those other types of chile is like eating weeds. Once youve eaten authentic Chimayo there is no confusing the difference."

chilifanatic, the only place I know about that sells the genetic Chimayo seed is native seed search organization.

Chimayo's rights over their name and landrace chile is bigger than a mere hybrid...they have spent close to 400 years selectively breeding Chimayo chile...thats how it became a landrace. They have legal rights to the name, and genetics...

midwestchilehead: it is a New Mexican tradition to name chile and other foods after the place where they originate from...is that so odd?

To find the rules and regulations look on the USPTO website. US Serial No: 78920649 or just do a basic USPTO trademark search for the name Chimayo.

Cheers to authentic Chimayo!

I went to the web site for Native Seed Search and they list Chimayo but it is not listed as Chimayo tm for Trade Mark. In a previous post you said not to buy unless the tm was listed. So I want to make sure that the seeds I might buy from Native Seed Search will be 100% true Chimayo. Can you comment on this.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but wanted to let everyone know that I am currently germinating 'Chimayo' seeds from Native Seeds/SEARCH and Adaptive Seeds. Both are germinating vigorously. I have them on moist paper towels on a heat mat and they are germinating faster than any other chile I have grown (most seeds showing roots after two days!). I don't know if either of these sources have the authentic 'Chimayo' chile, but I am sure the chiles will be delicious and I will have fun growing them regardless of what they turn out to be. Native Seeds/SEARCH also has several other landrace-type chiles from northern New Mexico that may or may not be closely related to 'Chimayo'.

Also, the Native Hispanic Institute (link below), which sponsors the Chimayo Chile Project, now sells real, certified Chimayo chile powder as well as a short book about the Chimayo chile. Both are a little expensive but the proceeds go to a worthy cause.

For those who have never been to northern New Mexico, Chimayo is a fascinating town...

ispahan

I hope you will post back here and help clear up some things about this pepper. I am very interested in how it turns out. Please make pictures of some peppers and the plants.

I believe that Native Seeds/SEARCH said some years ago that they had obtained their seeds some years previous. I figured their seeds might have drifted or crossed. It would be nice to get seeds directly from the town.

I suspect that one reason they sell powder is that the pepper is so mild that they need to spike it up with some chile arbol. So it would be important to find out how the pepper itself tastes.

I am disappointed that this person comes here and yells at us and refuses to offer some genuine seeds. That is baloney to me. I say put up or shut up.

You can tell if you have a landrace. What you will get will be peppers that look different on different plants. The Mexicans do not differentiate pepper names like Americans do. Here is one way to look at a Land Race.

Lets say you start with 10 different hybrids or 20 different genetics and allow them to interbreed every year. And you save tons of seeds every year never separating them. You make sure you mix them all together and plant all the seeds. That should produce a Landrace fairly soon. Well not a true landrace but you get the idea.

People like landrace because by selection they can get many different peppers out of the seeds. They like landrace because it has tons of different genetics to search out and select.

If the genetics are mixed in there you could select for chilitepin tiny little dots of peppers and huge bell peppers. all mixed together and able to be separated out once again with different mixes. you might get sweet chilitepins and red hot bell peppers for example along with cayenne and jalapeno etc.

I also suspect that the yield on the Chimayo is going to be low. The N0 9 or the 6-4 was developed to get higher yield so the Chimayo and all the other local peppers are going to be lower yield. A lot of work was done to raise the yield. No need to repeat that. Along with yield is the weight of the pepper. Higher weight means thicker walls. So expect the old ones to have thinner walls better for drying.

I hope I explined it so you all sort of understand.

This is a fascinating discussion. I guess I am happy I pulled it back up after all, LOL. I will try to remember to post my experiences with and photos of my 'Chimayo' chiles later this summer.

However, that being said, I have to admit that I am not too concerned about making sure these are 100% authentic, unadulterated 'Chimayo' chiles. I am looking more for an early maturing, flavorful New Mexican-type chile that will grow well under my conditions. I have never met a New Mexican-type chile I did not like, so unless these plants fail to produce at all I don't think I will be disappointed.

The seeds I have (from the two sources I mentioned above) are *extremely* vigorous. About 90% showed roots when using the paper towel method within 3 days and the first seedlings are now poking through the soil a mere one day after transferring them to pots. I was planning on selecting these seeds for fast, easy germination, but if that trait is already built into the 'Chimayo' strain then there seems to be very little selection for me to do in that regard. I have not grown that vast amounts of chile varieties that many of you have here, but I have never seen such fast germination among any of the Capsicums I have raised before.

I love the idea of landraces. As I get older, I am becoming less concerned about varietal purity and more concerned about resilience and adaptability. I chose to grow 'Chimayo' because 1) I loved my day spent in Chimayo while traveling through New Mexico last year and 2) it is described as a native landrace. I not only expect it to be, but actually hope that it is a true, variable landrace. I want many different pod types (within the New Mexican pod-type range, of course), plant growth habits and maturity times. That way I can select the plants that do best for me in my conditions and then gradually create my own strain.

If this is a true landrace, then I am sure it will also be slightly variable for heat. Some plants will produce mild pods, while others plants may produce pods with more pungency. Heat probably also depends a lot on growing conditions, too, I imagine. I doubt that the certified 'Chimayo' chile powder sold by the Native Hispanic Institute is adulterated with chile de arbol. That would only work against all of the wonderful things they are trying to accomplish by promoting the native chile.

In my opinion, I do not expect the 'Chimayo' chiles I am growing to have lower yields. I expect each plant to produce satisfactorily but may vary in terms of maturity times, pod size and pod thickness. The NuMex varieties were bred for uniformity, so they would all mature relatively at once to ease commercial harvest. They were also bred for uniform pod size, pod thickness and heat factors to make them more marketable to buyers who expect aesthetic perfection. As a home gardener, I think it is an advantage to have different plants ripen at different times and be variable for both pod size and heat characteristics. It keeps things more interesting (for me) and reduces spoilage in the event that everything ripens at once and I do not have time to process it.

As for the previous poster not offering seeds of the authentic 'Chimayo' chile, it seems to me that the goal of the Chimayo Chile Project is to produce bulk quantities of seeds to be distributed to farmers. Maybe they simply do not have enough seeds to sell to home gardeners at this time.

ispahan

Nice to see you respond again. I agree with what you say. Some things I said only for explanation. Certainly the landrace chimayo should be all new mexico types.

I admit I never grew or saw a true chimayo chile pepper. It will be nice to get some correct information on them. Everything I have to say on them is from sort of speculation and thoughts on what I have read about them.

I am disappoionted that the above gentleman did not offer genuine seeds because it is so hard to get info on them. by growing them out I could learn what they truely are.

Good luck and save me some seeds for future years. I probably will want to try a few plants.

Chimayo is suppose to be early. I am sure you will get red ripe pods.

The flavor is suppose to be excellent.

I hope you keep the 2 seed sources separate in case one is a lot better than the other.

This year, I am growing out some peppers that were formerly known as Chimayo. I label my plants with an unpronounceable symbol.

I have a link here for a recent article about Chimayo chiles. A very interesting read, but the stock photo they use is obviously of NuMex Big Jim (or similar).

My Chimayo seedlings are exceptionally vigorous. Most are already forming their first true leaves. I even transplanted some of them to other pots so they would have more room to grow. I handled them somewhat roughly and know that I broke the roots on several plants, but not a single one seemed bothered in the least.

Here is another link to some "Pepper Growing Tips" from Redwood City Seed Company. I post this because they do comparisons of germination times among many different types of peppers and Chimayo was found to be among the very fastest germinators in their trials. This has been my experience exactly so far.

They also mention that Chimayo will start blooming and setting fruit as a 4" plant...

I just found this thread. Hopefully those who grew it this year will come back and post their views on it. As I grew up in New Mexico I was raised on the New Mexico chile. Each area had their own selection. I was always told you could tell whether a variety was grown north or south of I-40 by looking at it and tasting it. In a given year I will grow 8-12 different varieties of NM Chile peppers. Many are local selections/landraces. Each with a distinctive taste and shape.I will be growing Chimayo in 012 from 4 sources. Three are NM sources I trust and also Native Seeds. I will compare the fruit from each variety and try to remember to answer back. I will add a link to one source. In the link the Nativo Chile is the Chimayo. He can't list and sell it as Chimayo. He received the seeds from a friend and feels they are the true Chimayo. You can email him and ask questions if you have any. Jay

This is where I received from:

http://jandlgardens.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=218

I grew the Chimayo strain of native chile this past summer and I absolutely loved it. The plants were compact and yet extremely vigorous and did not skip a beat in either very cold night temperatures (upper 30s) or very high daytime highs (100+). My plants produced dozens of mature red pods each, starting in late July and reaching a steady crescendo throughout August and September.

For flavor, they were one of the best I have ever had. Most have a very mild, pleasant, lingering heat, and yet a few here and there were exceptionally pungent. I cooked them with almost everything--from eggs to stews to roasts--and they were stunningly delicious no matter how they were prepared.

Needless to say, I was VERY impressed with these and I plan to grow them every season. They turned out to be my favorite all-purpose capsicum. Sweet enough to cut up fresh in salads and yet strong enough for wonderful homemade salsas.

ispahan where did you get your seeds? Just curious. In my opinion the flavor of the NM landrace/heirloom local chiles is the best. Each has their own unique flavor and that is why I grow so many different types. And when roasted, ground and mixed together the flavor is out of this world. Jay

Well I am certainly curious about Chimayo now... I am growing a native florida variety called Datil at the moment, but if Chimayo are the caviar of peppers, perhaps I should try and track down some of these seeds my self?

Do they live up to chimayo_farmers claims?

IMO...

They taste good, but compared to a lot of anaheim-types people might be dissapointed working with them.

They tend to be more seedy with thinner fruit walls compared to other anaheim-types.

It does taste a bit more "rich" though. It makes one of the best dried anaheim-types, imo. That's my main use for them.

Yes, the pods do have thinner walls than a lot of the modern "NuMex"-type chiles, but the flavor is out of this world. Totally worth any extra labor to me. They are wonderful dried, and exquisite when roasted and peeled.

I got my seeds from both Adaptive Seeds and Native Seeds/SEARCH. I noticed no difference between the two strains. Both strains had variable pod types (it is a land race after all). I only saved seeds from my favorite pod types as well as those I deemed to be most "authentic" in terms of shape, with squared off, blocky shoulders rather than the more pronouncedly rounded shoulders of the NuMex types.

This really is my new favorite chile. It is so hardy and deals with environmental stresses like a trooper.

I forgot to mention that the link for Nativo Chile in elkwc's post above is from J&L Gardens in northern New Mexico. This is one of my favorite seed sources with excellent seeds and excellent customer service. I have no doubt that the seeds they offer are as close as possible to real Chimayo strain seeds (even if they cannot sell them as such). This is a wonderful company and I once had the pleasure of viewing their wonderful produce at the Santa Fe Farmers Market.

Would any of you that grow these mind trading some with me? I have orange habs, thai hots, jalapenos (the undiferentiated walmart variety) at the present moment.

Thanks! If not I'll try to order some I suppose.

Jsschrstrcks, email me your address and I will send you some. I don't need anything in return.

I purchased a seed package from a local nursery here in Utah. It said on the package that the seeds were chimayo. The seed packs come from the Sandia seed company (http://www.sandiaseed.com/hotvery.html), with a "peppers of the world" label on it. Can anyone tell me if the seed source is the same genetically as the chimayo? (I understand that they have to be from the Chimayo area to be true chimayos, but I would not mind growing plants from these peppers in my area and call them something else.)

I grew 4 of these plants last year. The plants I grew from those seeds produced peppers that look identical to photos of the peppers on the Native Hispanic Institute down to the indented crown and curved bottoms. They grew peppers that had thin skin but excellent flavor. I dried them and rehydrated them for sauces. Most of my peppers were 5 inches and smaller. The plants were less ridged than other pepper plants I have grown with branches that drooped down to the ground without support. They were fairly productive though.

heh maybe we could all call them Chim-esq-o's :D

Wish I knew Kevinitis. I'm growing a few from native seeds/SEARCH

Kevinitis, I have used Sandia Seeds before, and all grew true. I've never grown her Chimayos before, but I would be very surprised if they were anything other than authentic. She's very close to the source.

thanks those were my thoughts too.

Kevin

let me start by saying i was born and raised in new mexico. chimayo is just a town they grow that kind of chile in much like hatch. which in my opinion has become a shadow of it's former glory do to being so comercialized they've been forced to grow milder verieties then in the past. so even if you can't call it authentic chimayo chile u can grow the exact same stuff anywhere in the world and it is the exact same chile although it might taste a little different do to conditions being slightly different i.e. soil, weather and so on and so forth so don't let chimayofarmer sell you all a bill of goods on what chimayo chile is. by the way they are growing some of the best chile in los lunas in recent years.....just my opinion.