Green Chile Sweet Dip a Southwest Gourmet Specialty

Green Chilé Sweet Dip for Appetizers and Wine Tastings

Wow your guests and family with this!

Green chilé as a basic flavor is just being explored outside of New Mexico. However, here in New Mexico we understand the unique and delicious flavors imparted by this modest little fruit.

We treat it like salt is treated. Chile goes on everything. Chile enhances everything. It is a unique component that is a sixth tasting sense. The basic tastes use to be sweet, sour, bitter, and salt. Recently, umami, a savory flavor, was added to the basic tastes. Chile will be the next tasting sense! (We think so!)

The consumer is expected to add the chile flavor to the list of tastes in the near future.

As our taste appreciation grows, it is believed that the appreciation of the New Mexico Chile will also grow. We understand that the love of sweet, salt, and fat is what drives many favorite foods. Yet, we also understand that the need to consume healthier foods should moderate our addiction to the easily added sugars, salts, and fats in many popular foods.

Chiles can add the flavor to many foods while not adding negatives that include high calories, fats, salts, and sweets. It contributes to good health too.

New Mexico State University has developed over 43 varieties of the chile pepper. The chile pepper grows well here in New Mexico. New Mexico has the perfect combination of hot days, alkaline, soils, and slightly saline water that makes our chiles unique. The stress of our climate actually makes the chiles do better too. Here is the web site for the New Mexico State University Chili Pepper Institute: http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/

Some of the language used to discuss the chile here in New Mexico is very similar to how a wine taster would use language to discuss a fine wine. We have earthy chiles, sweet chiles, bright chiles, and of course there is the scoville measuring unit for how hot or piquant a chile is but don’t think eating a chile always means hot! It means flavor. The heat is very often discussed but not all chiles are hot!

Here is a lovely flavor to introduce to your friends and family. It works very well as a sweet dip lavished on a brick of cream cheese. It works well served with both soft drinks or at a wine tasting.

Remember, that milk products will cool the mouth more than water will when eating a chile!

The type of chiles that you use will help determine the flavor you accomplish. The chile used here was a roasted Hatch Green chile that is a moderate flavor chile that is bright and lively.

Green Chile Sweet Dip

Ingredients for Green Chile Sweet Dip

1 C. sugar

½ C. water

1 ½ C. green chiles

Preparation of Green Chile Sweet Dip

Make simple syrup by melting the sugar in the water

Once water and sugar are melted together

Add the green chiles

Slow cook until a jellied consistency is achieved

This is about 30 minutes and must be stirred/tended often to keep it from burning

Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator

As you can see, this is not a difficult recipe. However, it is unique and will make you look like a star gourmet cook.

This is served on toast, crackers, meats, vegetables, with chips and over cream cheese.

It is beautiful as well as delicious.