Hot chili festivals

Posted: 02/09/2007--25/11/2008 || Rate this Article: 3 || Views|| Sign In || Register ||Hello Guest

Are you a connoisseur of fiery food? Really, really hot food? If so, visiting some hot chile festivals might be just the thing. Many people love to cook with hot peppers now, and there are cookbooks, TV cooking shows, and cooking classes on working with the spicy ingredients. Even if you don't know the difference between a jalapeno and a poblano, hot chili festivals are fun and celebrate the culture of the Southwest while also promoting the chili peppers. Here are descriptions of some of the hot chile festivals held annually in the US.

The REALLY CHILE FESTIVAL takes place each year on the third Saturday in September in SANTA FE, New Mexico. The festival promotes New Mexico chiles and also features such events as a lowrider show, Carlos Santana and Frida Kahlo look-alike contests, and contests in music and art. Santa Fe Plaza sizzles as huge baskets of chiles are roasted at this hot festival; New Mexico growers raise hundreds of different types of hot chiles, and New Mexicans love to cook with them.

Since chile peppers are harvested in September in New Mexico, several hot chile festivals take place there during that month. The SANTA FE WINE & CHILE FIESTA begins the weekend after the Really Chile Festival in Santa Fe, and it features great food from Santa Fe restaurants paired with fine wines from renowned wineries. The event takes place at the Santa Fe Opera grounds; huge tents are set up, and cooking classes, demonstrations, and wine tastings are also held. Although tickets are pricey, they regularly sell out as the festival has gained a large following over the years.

The HATCH CHILE FESTIVAL is held over Labor Day weekend in Hatch, New Mexico. Billing itself the "Chile Capital of the World," Hatch welcomes visitors to participate in chile cook-offs, watch a parade, and have fun on carnival rides. Chiles are used in every kind of recipe from chocolate mud pies to Mexican dishes, and the festival puts some of the best recipes into a cookbook that is for sale on the festival; for the best tastes of the festival, have the "Chile Meal," which features many Tex-Mex specialties. All sorts of chile products can be purchased in festival booths, such as ristras, which are decorative strings of chiles, and chile pepper wreaths.

PALESTINE, TEXAS has a hot pepper festival in October that features pepper-eating contests, the 5k Chile Chase, and musical entertainment. This small-town fest has lots of entertainment for the kids, and all sorts of arts and crafts booths and old-time crafts demonstrations in the historic district.

HOUSTON'S HOT SAUCE FESTIVAL held in September has numerous fiery offerings from restaurants and hot pepper sauce vendors. There are many contents; amateur salsa making, "hottest hot sauce at the festival," and others keep judges reaching for cold drinks. There are lots of restaurants offering tastes of their hot dishes, and the festival sells lots of chilly beverages. There are also children's areas and many stages of musical entertainment at the Houston Hot Sauce Festival, which is held at the Houston Farm & Ranch Club.

ALBUQUERQUE holds an annual NATIONAL FIERY FOODS AND BARBECUE SHOW in March at the convention center. This show pairs hot peppers and barbecue for hot taste treats, and product and food vendors serve up many new fiery dishes. Everything from hot chocolate mixes containing chiles to pottery pieces with a chile motif are exhibited, and real "chileheads" even scarf down chocolate-dipped peppers and chile lollipops. Exhibitors come from around the world to show their new products, and the public can't get enough of this Albuquerque festival.

Even Ohio has a chile pepper festival, which takes place in GLOUSTER in August. The OHIO CHILE PEPPER FESTIVAL features a parade, a salsa cook-off, and a hot pepper eating contest, and there's lots of musical entertainment.

BOWER, PENNSYLVANIA holds an annual chile pepper festival in September that features lots of spicy foods, a variety of hot peppers for sale, and arts and crafts booths selling pepper-related products. A pepper-eating contest is held, and there is always lots of good spicy food at the festival.

The HOT LICKS FIERY FOOD FESTIVAL is held in SAN DIEGO, California each May, and it features tastes of hot sauces and salsas, amateur cooking contests, musical entertainment, and visiting chefs. Free samples are plentiful, and the "Fire Dog," a jalapeno-loaded hot dog, is a crowd pleaser. The festival is held annually in Seaport Village.

The AUSTIN CHRONICLE HOT SAUCE FESTIVAL takes place in Waterloo Park in Austin during August. There are contests for hot sauce and salsa, lots of food vendors serving up spicy dishes, and musical entertainment. Lots of pepper-related merchandise, hot sauces, and fresh peppers are for sale at the festival, which seems to grow larger each year.

DALLAS, Texas holds the CHILI PEPPERAMA on Greenville Avenue in September. Many fiery foods are served by vendors, and there's a "Pepper Stage" for musical entertainment. The event, which was previously sponsored by the Dallas Farmer's Market, has cooking classes, lots of samples of hot gourmet food, and a pepper-eating contest. The festival has a "Chili Confrontation Cook-Off," followed by the "Pumpkin Ice Cream Crank-Off" so judges can get some relief. There are also children's events and arts and crafts booths.