Finally, I’m back at it. Finding time to update everyone on what we’ve been doing and seeing has been an issue. It’s early Tuesday morning in Frisco, TX area, and I will try to get caught up. 4a was in Las Cruces, and this will try to complete our stop there.
I left off mentioning the frozen custard, the burger joint in Hatch, and pecans & chiles.
About a mile south of our rv park was this frozen custard place called Caliche’s. Since Rita loves frozen yogurt, which can be hard to find at times, we pulled in one evening. You either use the drive-up (order and wait at the window), or park out front and walk up to the order window. We drove through the first night. The custard is made fresh every day. The liquid custard mix is poured into the top of the machine and the frozen custard comes out the front, down a spout into a large bucket (looks like about 5 gallons). The buckets sit in a big cooler with wheels so the custard doesn’t melt. When the batch is done, the bucket is moved to a cooler and is ready to serve. The custard is firm enough to scoop, but is not hard like “hard packed” ice cream. That way it stays soft and creamy when it’s served. Caliche’s makes vanilla and chocolate only. The variety comes with the toppings – nuts (pecans, of course, but others too), candy, fruit, etc. They can make shakes or “blizzards”, but most orders seem to be custard and one or two toppings.
This stuff is good! We’ve had custard before, but not as good as this. We ended up making a daily visit, and finally got mom and Dot (her brother’s wife) there so she could try it.
On our Sunday in Las Cruces we drove north of town to Hatch, NM. In early September (4th and 5th) they will have their annual chile festival. The festival attracts over 30,000 visitors from all over the United States, including the Food Network and the BBC. Festival goers can sample famed chile recipes, watch the crowning of the chile festival queen, or toss a horseshoe in celebration of our most famous crop. The event also features chile ristra contests, artisan and food booths, and a carnival. A chile ristra is a string of dried chiles, so that you may have chiles year round (or just for decoration). Apparently, they can be as big (long) as you want, or made into a wreath (round, heart-shaped, etc). It’s a popular belief that ristras are hung in front of your home to welcome visitors and bring you good fortune. Right now, fresh ristras are not very available, so we haven’t bought any. The local vendors will ship a fresh one if you want – shipping about the price of the ristra. We decided not to buy.
Some facts about chiles:
But the festival and chiles were not the reason we were in Hatch. Someone had mentioned this great burger (and more, actually) place up there called Sparky’s. It was hard to verify it’s existence at first, but enough people were found eventually, that we made the drive (about 35 miles). One of the best 35 mile trips we’ve made. As you can see, Sparky’s is decorated and hard to miss.
If you’re in the area, you gotta try the Green Chile Cheeseburger, with the Green Chile Cheese Fries. They warn you that the burger will be pink/red in the middle if you don’t ask for more cooking – Darrold said “well done” which meant no pink. The green chile used is mild, and can be served whole (seeds removed) or chopped up. I eventually had another green chile cheeseburger with the chiles whole, and found I liked it better chopped up (but not too chopped up) like Sparky’s does. We all agreed, worth the trip.
And now for pecans. Pecans were one of the most recently domesticated major crops. Although wild pecans were well-known among the colonial Americans as a delicacy, the commercial growing of pecans in the United States did not begin until the 1880s. Today, the U.S. produces between 80% and 95% of the world's pecans, with an annual crop of 150–200 thousand tons. The nut harvest for growers is typically around mid-October. Historically, the leading pecan-producing state in the U.S. has been Georgia, followed by Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma; they are also grown in Arizona, South Carolina and Hawaii. Outside the United States, pecans are grown in Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.
The first commercial pecan orchard in New Mexico was established by Dean Stahmann, Sr., south of Las Cruces in the 1930s. By 1970, close to 9,000 acres of pecan orchards were established and more pecan trees were being planted. New Mexico now has about 29,622 acres of pecan trees that produced about 50 million pounds of nuts in 1999. There are no native pecan trees in New Mexico, and all producing pecans are improved varieties. 'Western Schley' is the variety grown most in the state.
About 80 years ago when W.J. Stahmann and his son Deane purchased a stretch of countryside in the Mesilla Valley thirty miles north of El Paso, the area was little more than a barren wasteland of shrub and sand dunes. A buggy-maker by trade, Stahmann came to the Mesilla Valley from Wisconsin. Settling first in El Paso, he raised cotton and tomatoes. In 1926, W.J. purchased the first 2,900 acres of what was to become Stahmann Farms in Southern New Mexico. He and his son cleared the land with teams of mules and planted acres of cotton.
Seventy years later no one knows why Deane Stahmann decided to pull out his cotton plants and plant the first pecan trees in the valley. Some say it was his wife's idea. Others say it was the economy or the development of synthetic fabrics. Whatever the reason, he planted over 4,000 acres of pecan trees in the early 1930's on two separate plots of land. Soon the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the United States. Years later, when Deane Jr. planted 2,000 acres of trees in Australia, the Stahmanns became the Largest Pecan Producers in the World!
Pecans are the only mass market nut native to the Americas. The average age of a bearing tree is around fifty years. An orchard has a basic spacing of thirty by thirty feet or 48 trees per acre, and you will notice that weeds and grass grow freely among the trees. Today, green and black aphids are controlled with thousands of ladybugs, lacewing flies and other natural predators that live and reproduce in those ugly weeds.
Pecan harvesting is a highly mechanized operation completed in three stages. First, the fields are cleared of weeds, grass, branches and other debris. Second, sophisticated machines called shakers hold and shake specific branches of the tree, causing virtually all the nuts to fall from the tree, as well as many dry leaves and branches. During the third stage of the operation, sweepers form rows of pecans between the trees and finally a harvester picks up the pecans from the ground. Light material such as leaves and sticks are blown back onto the field by the harvester while pecans and rocks are dumped into a cart.
It’s important to water pecan trees at proper intervals. Pecans are irrigated by sprinklers, drip systems, and by flooding. We only saw flooding in the Las Cruces area, but sprinklers and drip systems would be hard to see as you drive by. As you might guess, water is important throughout the season for normal development of the trees and the nuts, and has more of an effect on pecan production than any other factor.
I'm having trouble with the pictures. Can't seem to get them to work right. Anyway, it is what it is. Besides, it's
free. I might have to find another blog to start using. This one doesn't work too well.
This is our last night in Frisco. Tomorrow we drive north to the Oklahoma City area to see my sister and family. We will probably be there till Monday.
Hope all are well. It rained around here this afternoon, but not much at the rv park. It cooled off to about 84 and then went back up to over 95 again. My sister says not any better in Oklahoma. Saw that it was 75 in our hometown in Kansas. Hope that holds until we leave for Oregon around the end of the month.
rod
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| A Happy Rita |
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| Caliche's Frozen Custard |
About a mile south of our rv park was this frozen custard place called Caliche’s. Since Rita loves frozen yogurt, which can be hard to find at times, we pulled in one evening. You either use the drive-up (order and wait at the window), or park out front and walk up to the order window. We drove through the first night. The custard is made fresh every day. The liquid custard mix is poured into the top of the machine and the frozen custard comes out the front, down a spout into a large bucket (looks like about 5 gallons). The buckets sit in a big cooler with wheels so the custard doesn’t melt. When the batch is done, the bucket is moved to a cooler and is ready to serve. The custard is firm enough to scoop, but is not hard like “hard packed” ice cream. That way it stays soft and creamy when it’s served. Caliche’s makes vanilla and chocolate only. The variety comes with the toppings – nuts (pecans, of course, but others too), candy, fruit, etc. They can make shakes or “blizzards”, but most orders seem to be custard and one or two toppings.
This stuff is good! We’ve had custard before, but not as good as this. We ended up making a daily visit, and finally got mom and Dot (her brother’s wife) there so she could try it.
On our Sunday in Las Cruces we drove north of town to Hatch, NM. In early September (4th and 5th) they will have their annual chile festival. The festival attracts over 30,000 visitors from all over the United States, including the Food Network and the BBC. Festival goers can sample famed chile recipes, watch the crowning of the chile festival queen, or toss a horseshoe in celebration of our most famous crop. The event also features chile ristra contests, artisan and food booths, and a carnival. A chile ristra is a string of dried chiles, so that you may have chiles year round (or just for decoration). Apparently, they can be as big (long) as you want, or made into a wreath (round, heart-shaped, etc). It’s a popular belief that ristras are hung in front of your home to welcome visitors and bring you good fortune. Right now, fresh ristras are not very available, so we haven’t bought any. The local vendors will ship a fresh one if you want – shipping about the price of the ristra. We decided not to buy.
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| Chile Ristras at a Chile Stand |
- One fresh medium-sized green chile pod has as much Vitamin C as six oranges.
- One teaspoon of dried red chile powder has the daily requirements of Vitamin A.
- Hot chile peppers burn calories by triggering a thermodynamic burn in the body, which speeds up the metabolism.
- Teas & lozenges are made with chile peppers for the treatment of a sore throat.
- Capsaicinoids, the chemical that make chile peppers hot, are used in muscle patches for sore and aching muscles.
- Chile peppers are relatives of tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants, all belonging to the nightshade family.
- The color extracted from very red chile pepper pods, oleoresin, is used in everything from lipstick to processed meats.
- There are 26 known species of chile pepper, five of which are domesticated.
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| Sparky's |
If you’re in the area, you gotta try the Green Chile Cheeseburger, with the Green Chile Cheese Fries. They warn you that the burger will be pink/red in the middle if you don’t ask for more cooking – Darrold said “well done” which meant no pink. The green chile used is mild, and can be served whole (seeds removed) or chopped up. I eventually had another green chile cheeseburger with the chiles whole, and found I liked it better chopped up (but not too chopped up) like Sparky’s does. We all agreed, worth the trip.
And now for pecans. Pecans were one of the most recently domesticated major crops. Although wild pecans were well-known among the colonial Americans as a delicacy, the commercial growing of pecans in the United States did not begin until the 1880s. Today, the U.S. produces between 80% and 95% of the world's pecans, with an annual crop of 150–200 thousand tons. The nut harvest for growers is typically around mid-October. Historically, the leading pecan-producing state in the U.S. has been Georgia, followed by Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma; they are also grown in Arizona, South Carolina and Hawaii. Outside the United States, pecans are grown in Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.
The first commercial pecan orchard in New Mexico was established by Dean Stahmann, Sr., south of Las Cruces in the 1930s. By 1970, close to 9,000 acres of pecan orchards were established and more pecan trees were being planted. New Mexico now has about 29,622 acres of pecan trees that produced about 50 million pounds of nuts in 1999. There are no native pecan trees in New Mexico, and all producing pecans are improved varieties. 'Western Schley' is the variety grown most in the state.
About 80 years ago when W.J. Stahmann and his son Deane purchased a stretch of countryside in the Mesilla Valley thirty miles north of El Paso, the area was little more than a barren wasteland of shrub and sand dunes. A buggy-maker by trade, Stahmann came to the Mesilla Valley from Wisconsin. Settling first in El Paso, he raised cotton and tomatoes. In 1926, W.J. purchased the first 2,900 acres of what was to become Stahmann Farms in Southern New Mexico. He and his son cleared the land with teams of mules and planted acres of cotton.
Seventy years later no one knows why Deane Stahmann decided to pull out his cotton plants and plant the first pecan trees in the valley. Some say it was his wife's idea. Others say it was the economy or the development of synthetic fabrics. Whatever the reason, he planted over 4,000 acres of pecan trees in the early 1930's on two separate plots of land. Soon the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the United States. Years later, when Deane Jr. planted 2,000 acres of trees in Australia, the Stahmanns became the Largest Pecan Producers in the World!
Pecans are the only mass market nut native to the Americas. The average age of a bearing tree is around fifty years. An orchard has a basic spacing of thirty by thirty feet or 48 trees per acre, and you will notice that weeds and grass grow freely among the trees. Today, green and black aphids are controlled with thousands of ladybugs, lacewing flies and other natural predators that live and reproduce in those ugly weeds.
Pecan harvesting is a highly mechanized operation completed in three stages. First, the fields are cleared of weeds, grass, branches and other debris. Second, sophisticated machines called shakers hold and shake specific branches of the tree, causing virtually all the nuts to fall from the tree, as well as many dry leaves and branches. During the third stage of the operation, sweepers form rows of pecans between the trees and finally a harvester picks up the pecans from the ground. Light material such as leaves and sticks are blown back onto the field by the harvester while pecans and rocks are dumped into a cart.
It’s important to water pecan trees at proper intervals. Pecans are irrigated by sprinklers, drip systems, and by flooding. We only saw flooding in the Las Cruces area, but sprinklers and drip systems would be hard to see as you drive by. As you might guess, water is important throughout the season for normal development of the trees and the nuts, and has more of an effect on pecan production than any other factor.
I'm having trouble with the pictures. Can't seem to get them to work right. Anyway, it is what it is. Besides, it's
free. I might have to find another blog to start using. This one doesn't work too well.
This is our last night in Frisco. Tomorrow we drive north to the Oklahoma City area to see my sister and family. We will probably be there till Monday.
Hope all are well. It rained around here this afternoon, but not much at the rv park. It cooled off to about 84 and then went back up to over 95 again. My sister says not any better in Oklahoma. Saw that it was 75 in our hometown in Kansas. Hope that holds until we leave for Oregon around the end of the month.
rod
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