While New Mexico has definite bragging rights to growing and processing chile peppers, it’s safe to say that two businesses in neighboring Arizona have contributed to some of its success.

According to Ed Curry, president of Curry Seed & Chile Co. in Pearce, Arizona, "We provide the genetics for about 80% or maybe 90% of the green chile industry." His company supplies seed to growers in the Southwest and to several Mexican states. The farm covers about 1,200 acres, with three-quarters growing chile at any one time.

In addition to being a noted developer of chile plants, Ed has a working relationship with Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Co. of Tumacacori, an innovator of manufacturing, processing, and blending techniques and purveyor of about 150 assorted spice products and spice blends.

Santa Cruz was founded in 1943 by the late Gene England, a cowboy, aviator, oilfield hand, and stunt artist for the movies. He didn’t quite have all the ducks lined up at first, said his daughter, Jeanie Neubauer, who now owns the company.

"Like many businesses, it started from a failed idea," she said. "He was going to sell the chile, but he couldn’t find anybody to sell it to. He was a very inventive guy—he sun-dried the chile, which was the traditional way of preserving it, and ground it into a powder." Then he added a new wrinkle to the old tradition. "He didn’t add any additional spices," England’s daughter continued. "He just added a little salt, and that way restaurants and cooks could create whatever flavors they wanted. Then he started making chile into paste because he wanted to find a way to take that fresh chile flavor and make it shelf stable."

That good idea led to demand for more peppers, which led to hiring contract growers. One of those growers was Noel Curry, Ed’s father, who founded Curry Seed in 1956. It was a perfect relationship: Santa Cruz Chili had to expand its processing plant, and Ed was looking for a way to use the pulp that remained after harvesting seeds.

Because of their fathers’ associations, Ed and Jeanie met and began brainstorming.

"Ed grows this very high-quality chile," Jeanie said. "He then extracts the seed. That’s his profit, and he had all this great chile he was throwing away. It’s highly perishable, so once it gets all cut up, it really needs to be processed within 8 to 12 hours."

One idea—running a refrigerated truck from the farm at Pearce to Tumacacori—wasn’t workable because it would have taken too long to load and transport the pulp. So, the two decided that Ed would expand his building and Jeanie would provide processing equipment. That trade also opened the doors for an expansion of Santa Cruz Chili’s product line and gave Curry Seed another profit center. However, the seed business grew faster than the canning operation, so Curry Seed added dehydrators.

"We process, we dehydrate, we do genetic work," Ed said. "What really got me well-known in the industry was the genetics. We’ve been providing seed for the green chile industry for 10, 11 years now. I’ve got seed blocks of all kinds of different stuff here. We do the crosses. We have several different types of chile crossed with one another to produce different hybrids. Then, out of those hybrids, we usually select something else we want to try—a different parent to come up with a different hybrid."

There isn’t really a timetable on developing a variety. "It’s a moving target," Ed said. "Most of the time, 5 to 7 years. Sometimes we do it quicker."

The seeds come with pedigrees, of course, and with care and feeding guidelines to ensure that the growers who use Curry seeds earn the best yields possible. "I like to give the best help I can, from a nutrient standpoint, on what it takes to produce the highest yield and the best fruit of that crop," he said. "Typically, we’re always out there on the edge trying to learn something new about nutrients."

One new thing that has been learned is that peppers like more micronutrients than was thought in the past. "We’ve just about doubled the average yield for peppers," Ed claimed. "Before we came out with our varieties, the average yield was probably 8 to 10 tons, and now the yield is probably more like 14- to 16-ton average. That was almost unheard of."

However, he quickly points out, it’s not all genetics. For example, he’s switching to underground irrigation, which is efficient in getting the water to the plant root, delivering nutrients to the plant, and in cutting down on the amount of precious water lost to evaporation. "We’re just able to do things a lot more efficiently," he said.

But genetics are responsible for revolutionizing the quality of the finished product. "One of the things that’s made us successful in the seed venture is that we were able to control the heat level," he said, noting that the taste for chile migrated to the north and east, where it isn’t common to put salsa on scrambled eggs in the morning. "When you’re in Pennsylvania and you hear about chile, the first thing you think is I don’t want to eat that because it’s hot."

At one time, the heat value in plants of the same variety varied widely from plant to plant. The genetic work has produced plants with pretty much a consistent heat content.

"I’m not telling you it’s perfect," said Ed, "but we have narrowed that window down a whole bunch. That’s part of what made us famous. We were one of the first ones to get a good handle on the heat level. If the cannery sends somebody a can of chile, it sure better be what it says on it."

In order to keep himself centered on development and provide reminders of what he’s trying to develop, Ed keeps selected peppers in the freezer for about a year and looks at them once in a while. "I believe a man’s got to have a vision, and my vision is peppers, so I put those oddball things in the freezer, and I watch them."

One of the visions being worked on is a development project for Frito-Lay. "They want a different texture of chile to put into salsa," he said. "Frito-Lay sells more salsas than anybody."

In addition, he and Jeanie visited the test kitchen for Chili’s restaurant chain, which Ed said was an excellent opportunity to get a handle on the end user’s side of the business, because input from the final customer tends to plant seeds of ideas in his mind. While there wasn’t a deal, he said that the experience of working with experts in the kitchen provided valuable information on how test kitchens think.

Jeanie identifies her company as a niche marketer in comparison to big companies that, as she sees it, concentrate on generic chiles and salsas. While there’s a certain level of newness, she looks at the chile business as a mature market that never really changes drastically. "There’s always a market out there for the new and inventive," she said, "but it doesn’t mean it’s going to revolutionize. It’s just simply going to enhance the market as it currently is."

Contact Info:

Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Co.

P.O. BOX 177

Tumacacori, Arizona 85640

(520) 398-2591

FAX (520) 398-2592

http://www.theriver.com/santacruzchili/product.html 

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