Zia Pueblo Chile Pepper

Sweet and pleasant when harvested green; develops a richer, bitter-sweet complexity with earthy depth as it ripens to red.

The Zia Pueblo Chile Pepper is an ancient landrace variety developed over centuries by farmers at Zia Pueblo, a Keres-speaking community near the Jemez River in northern New Mexico. Seeds were collected in the mid-1990s from an elder farmer by Native Seeds/SEARCH and later evaluated in New Mexico State University trials. The pods measure approximately 3 to 5 inches long and 0.8 to 1.5 inches wide, starting green and ripening to a bright red with medium-thin flesh. Plants grow 2 to 3 feet tall or more in a productive, indeterminate, vine-like habit and mature early in high-desert conditions. Flavor is sweet and pleasant when green, becoming richer with a distinctive bitter-sweet complexity as the fruit ripens red. It is the hottest of the northern New Mexico landraces, with Scoville Heat Units averaging 20,547 across multi-year trials (ranging 15,756–25,329 SHU), significantly higher than commercial types like Sandia. Culinary uses include roasting and stuffing while green, frying, or drying into flavorful powder and flakes when red. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soil at elevations around 5,500 feet, showing good adaptation to arid, high-desert environments.

This landrace chile was cultivated for generations by Zia Pueblo farmers in the high desert near the Jemez River. Seeds were collected in the mid-1990s from a local elder by Native Seeds/SEARCH and evaluated in NMSU trials where it proved the hottest among northern New Mexico landraces, showcasing unique adaptation and genetic diversity preserved through traditional seed saving.