The Village Market

I see this friendly face nearly every day on my travels through the village. The hands of the clock salute a greeting as they let me know how late I am running on my way to work.

It's the slow route through the village. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour as it snakes through the farms and estates in the old part of town.

But it's the weekend, and the grower's market, so the pace is even slower. Time here seems to be every bit as organic and vital to health as the organic produce.

The market at first resembles nearly every other grower's market that you might visit across the country. And you can almost always rely on blue skies and sunshine.

There are the typical flowers and produce.

But you won't take many steps before you realize what is different from your garden variety market anywhere else.

Your nose may announce it to you from a mile or two away before you see it for yourself.

It's chili roasting time in the village! You could roast it in your own oven at home. But why bother when you can have the chili roasting man do it for you in record time and with very little fuss?

What starts out like this....

Ends up like this . . . . Ready for peeling and bagging.

That's where at least some of those tears come from!

Many varieties of chilies are available here.

And in many forms. You have to look a bit closer at these charming pots of jam . . .

to see that they all contain green chili!

New Mexico Hatch Chili is available at Trader Joe's and some specialty food stores now. Ex pat New Mexicans rely on it. If you want to try a couple of basic recipes, I'm including one for a sauce and another for a cold relish salsa that we eat with plain corn chips (like Doritos). A little goes a long way, especially if you aren't used to hot peppers!

When green chili is hung and dried outdoors it turns red. It's then flaked or ground into powder and has a decidedly different flavor. Both red and green chili are highly addictive.

Bound local white sage used as a purifying incense.

I was told that these gourd looking vegetables are actually a cucumber variety. Do you know them? 

Cactus anyone?

Do you include red peppers in your dried flower arrangements?

Thanks for coming along to our village market!

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

Join me at Yvonne's

Stone Gable

On the Menu Monday