A Day in the Life of The Hatch Chile Store. Part 4
A Day in the Life of The Hatch Chile Store Part 4
Hey, Chile Fanatics!
Although the 2023 Fresh Chile Season is over, that doesn't mean The Hatch Chile Storetakes a break. We are still busy producing our Hatch Chile Rellenos,Tamales, Chimichangas, and experimenting in the Hatch Chile Store kitchen to bring you new products!
Today, we will look at how our fabulous, hard-working crew prepares the Hatch Chile Rellenos for you. We have a relleno processing building at our facility in Deming, NM. It has the relleno kitchen and several huge freezers where the finished products are stored until they are transferred to our distribution centers.
A few weeks ago, I shared the roasting process with you. The chile for the rellenos has been roasted and processed here in our facility. The long table is filled with chile and cheese. The cheese is cut into chunks that will fill the chile. Each chile is then stuffed by hand.Â
Large batches of batter are prepped for dipping the stuffed chile. They are dropped into hot oil. They are cooked, but they are not totally browned allowing our customers to finish the process and bring them to the perfect golden brown! I wish I could share how fabulous smelling it is in there. I had never been a fan of chile rellenos, until I had the opportunity to taste these. I was so hungry standing there watching, knowing all that cheese and chile was encased in a batter that just tastes so good!Â
After the rellenos are lightly fried, they are lined onto trays. Once the rack is full of trays, they are moved to the freezer where they are flash-frozen. They are then packed into bags by the dozen. The bags are boxed into cases. Those cases are shipped to our distribution centers, where they will make their way to you!Â