Central Market stores launch their annual Hatch Chile Festival today, with Hatch beer, Hatch tamales, Hatch pastas plus 40,000 pounds of Hatch chiles per store
Central Market boutique grocery stores across Texas launch their annual Hatch Chile Festival today, celebrating the chiles grown in Hatch, New Mexico in dozens of unique items ranging from roasted fresh chiles to Hatch-spiked dark chocolates to Hatch pepper sourdough breads to Hatch-spiked beer and handmade Hatch chile and pork tamales.
Central Market says they are the largest purchaser of Hatch chiles in the state, buying more than 330,000 of the peppers (hot, medium and mild) for their 9 Texas stores. An average store goes through nearly 40,000 pounds of Hatch chiles during the season, which runs from now until mid-September.
You'll find lots of fun Hatch chile dishes at all the Central Market stores, but my favorite is the Fort Worth location. That's where you'll also find an unstoppable combo of excellent service, hospitality and selection — plus Sarah Hooton's cooking school classes, JR Clark's wine and beer cellars, and GM Austin Jourde, who makes it all work.
Wanna make some of those Hatch tamales? Here's how they do it: