Hot temperatures speed up green chile harvest

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – People are seeing the first chile roasts of the season, but it’s a lot earlier than what we’re used to.

“It’s really early this year, too,” said Eric Shucavage, a Sprouts Farmers Market customer. “Usually, you have it in September or October.”

A Sprouts Farmers Market store manager says it’s all because of the weather. Hot temperatures are speeding up the harvest of hot crops.

“You look at this chile has a smooth texture to it. There’s no blistering on it, and there’s no soft spots on it. So you want to make sure that when you’re picking your chile that’s how it looks,” said Mark Vigil, a store manager at a Sprouts Farmers Market. 

But weather does impact the timeline for chile roasts. Chains like Sprouts pushed up their typical roasts to mid-summer.

“We’re doing 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every single day for the next two weeks,” said Vigil.

In addition to boxes full of fresh green chile that’s roasted on site for free: 

“We have the Hatch Chile Plantain Chips, which are really, really good. We have the Sprouts Hatch Chile Salsa.”

Plus salad dressing, corn nuts, beef jerky, peanuts and veggie straws. All products exclusively sold at the chain’s New Mexico locations.

“Everybody come on get your chile now because it’s like, I know the first batch is usually one of the better batches I feel,” said Vigil.