By David G. Jackson

Things were upbeat the 17th annual International Chile Conference held in Las Cruces on February 5, 2002. Farmers, seed companies and equipment manufacturers from all over the country were there, along with agronomists and other agricultural scientists from New Mexico State and other universities.

Several concerns were noted. This is likely to be the third year of a prolonged drought and reservoirs all over the state are low which means that irrigation water may be in short supply. What water is available will have to be shared with the silvery minnow and other endangered species. There is also a shortage of some varieties of hybrid chile seed.

One highlight was a statement by Jeff Steinborn, field representative of Senator Jeff Bingaman, who stated that the senator had recently learned that it might be beneficial to have more differentiation in the types of chile registered with the International Trade Commission. The ITC product classifications and data are used globally by industry and government to track industries and products, and the amount of trade in them, and to whom. While the ITC currently combines all chiles together under the description "capsicum, "further differentiation would allow the benefit of tracking export data as it pertains to specific products. Bingaman said that he was looking forward to working with the Chile Pepper Institute and the Chile Pepper Task Force to identify what changes the chile industry would seek in this ITC classification, and work to get it changed.

NMSU Chile Task Force

The New Mexico Chile Pepper Task Force is in its third year and is quietly making progress on its objective of keeping New Mexico’s chile industry viable. Task Force leader Rich Phillips announced that Sandia National Laboratories had agreed to join the USDA Cotton Ginning Laboratory and New Mexico State University Manufacturing Technology & Engineering Center to work on improving mechanical harvesting and sorting equipment.

The Task Force is also following growers who get the best yields to catalog best management practices. Studies are also being conducted on temperature and salinity and their effect on yields. Other concerns include world trade problems. "New Mexico will have to do better than we did with NAFTA because with the current trend to globalization, we could be left behind," Phillips said.

A major development has been the continuing improvement of the Task Force website, www.chiletaskforce.org , which will list all of the best management practices and other information developed by the various projects and studies.

Webmaster's Note: More Task Force information can also be found here on this site.

Tampico, Mexico will be the site of the 16th International Pepper Conference, November 10-12, 2002. Previously known as the National Pepper Conference, the name was changed as a result of the meeting being scheduled in Mexico.

The conference will feature contributed oral and poster presentations which will be printed in Proceedings that will be given to all attendees. An all day tour of the Huasteca area pepper trials, processing plants and fields is scheduled for November 11. Companies and researchers can enter pepper varieties and hybrids in a demonstration trial that will be part of the tour.

Ben Villalon, retired director of the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station in Weslasco, Texas, was one of the founding fathers of the conference 30 years ago. He said that the organization has truly become international with at least 18 countries expected to participate. "As always the meeting is scientifically oriented and the call for papers went out in February," said Dr. Villalon. "For pepper growers who want to really learn about the pepper industry in Mexico, this will be their best opportunity. The demonstration trial will include many of the varieties grown in Mexico."

The International Pepper Conference is unusual in that there is no formal organization. Growers and processors in an area agree to set up the conference in the manner they see fit. Invitations are sent out by Pickle Packers International to some 3,000 individuals and organizations. Information, registration and reservations are available at Pepper_conference@email.com; telephone 52.833.213 4352 or fax 52.833.213 4639.

Many people are called the "queen" of this or the "king" of that -- meaning that they have either extensive knowledge of a given subject or have just been around a long time. Frieda Caplan, CEO of Frieda’s, Inc., one of the sponsors of International Chile Conference, has earned the title of Queen of Exotic Foods because, for the last 40 years, she has brought a number of fruits and vegatables into the market including many varieties of chile that are now sold nationwide and, indeed, world wide. She has developed innovative marketing, packaging and promotion methods that have revolutionized the selling of the these products.

It all started with mushrooms. Working part time for a wholesale produce company, she did mostly office work. But during the summer vacation, Frieda worked the produce area. She noticed that mushrooms didn’t sell, except to a few customers.

"I decided to increase mushroom sales and worked at it. Many people just didn’t know about how to use mushrooms, so I had to get the help of some of the food pages in the local newspapers. When I succeeded, it was determined that there wasn’t enough product to meet the demand and boy did I have to hustle to find additional supplies," she said. Her employer really wasn’t interested because they sold mushrooms as a favor to some of the larger customers. So Frieda quit and formed her own company -- and began promoting the production and sale of mushrooms. She was very successful and helped to introduce the use of many varieties of mushrooms on a regional and eventually national market -- and became the "Queen of Mushrooms."

Frieda realized that her future lay in the introduction of unusual food products. And so it followed that she discovered Chinese Gooseberries. "I realized that the name would never sell, so I changed it to kiwifruit because they were grown in New Zealand. It took a while, but kiwifruit finally became a staple, and I became the "Queen of Kiwi," she said.

And so it followed with other produce such as spaghetti squash, jicama, shallots, Donut peaches and all sorts of other exotic fruits and vegetables. Some promotions were not successful, at least at first, and many products took several years to catch on. But when the product became successful, Frieda was again in the front of the pack and acknowledged as "queen" of another fruit or vegetable.

In the early ‘80s she began selling chile. It was already a staple in New Mexico and with the growing Hispanic population of the U. S., but it was not well known in the rest of the country. She designed a "Chile Starter Pack" which contains small amounts of chile products usually sold in bulk. Since 1989 chiles have been tops in sales, ranking 18th out of the top 60 of the 500 products Freida’s Inc. sells. She now specializes in serranos, poblanos, Anaheims, jalapeņos and habaneros. "Habaneros are a special story," Frieda said. "In 1980, Frank Garcia of GNS Spices started growing habaneros and many considered them just too hot to eat. Indeed, Frank has developed some of the hottest habaneros on the market. But I realized that they had a unique flavor and scent. Again, it took a while, but habaneros are among the most popular varieties today."

Frieda raised her two daughters as her business grew and one daughter is president of the company and the other daughter is vice-president of sales. The company continues to develop new products and methods of presentation. "We are always looking for products that have color, a good shelf life and look and taste good. Chile really fits the bill," she said. She brought a beautiful package of several chiles to the Chile Pepper Conference and donated it to the silent auction held by the Chile Pepper Institute. When asked how she kept the chile looking so fresh and colorful, Frieda said "Ah, that’s the secret of my business success."

Frieda’s can be reached at 714-826-6100; email: mail@friedas.com ; Web: www.friedas.com

Chinense and Frutescens Are Separate Species

Researchers J. Baral and Paul W. Bosland used morphological, molecular, and biological analysis methods to prove that C. frutescens and C. chinense are separate species. The two morphological traits that differentiate the two species are calyx constriction and flower position. Only six percent of C. chinense and five percent of C. frutescens were misclassified when these two characteristics were used. C. chinense has pendant flowers and a constricted calyx, while C. frutescens has erect flowers and no calyx constriction.

Tabasco Fiber Added to Foods

A study by Marie Haaland, Ann Pottenger, and Lisa McKee of NMSU added tabasco chile fiber (seeds and peels) to tortillas and cheese to increase the TDF (total dietary fiber). Sensory evaluation was conducted in a food preparation lab, where and untrained consumer panel of 50 participants tasted the foods to which a half a percent and one percent of the tabasco fiber had been added. Their conclusion was that tabasco chile fiber can be successfully added to food products in small amount to increase TDF.

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