Every day this time of year when he wakes up, Pueblo chile farmer Rocky Musso prepares himself for southern Colorado’s fabled mid-summer heat. He doesn’t like it. He loves it! But not for himself, he loves it for the crop that pays the bills and stretches for acres all across the Mesa, a stretch of county real estate south and east of Pueblo’s center city.
“We welcome the heat,” said Musso, a Pueblo native and link to generations of the county’s chile farmers, immigrant planters that go back more than a century, maybe longer, on the mesa.
The heat that has settled over the area is exactly what nourishes his and his neighbor’s chile crop, a number of other crops, too. But chile is the focus. The nighttime cool downs are also the perfect complement.
Right now, no one is complaining about July temperatures, including one ‘surface of the sun’ 106-degree scorcher that tied a 53-year record. The heat, you see, holds the key to a bumper crop or near bumper crop that may be in the offing.
“As long as we have plenty of water,” Musso said, “we can sustain the plants.” Right now, barring a deluge or rain or what he carefully calls “the ‘H’ word,” the crop, he predicts, will be in great shape. Hail is the dreaded word heever-so-carefully maneuvers around. In years past, hail has crushed the crop and erased months of time and labor. Right now, it’s ‘finger-crossing’ time across the mesa.
Not far from Musso’s spread another chile farmer is feeling cautiously optimistic. An irascible, opinionated, tough as shoe leather Carla Mauro is also a legacy grower. So far, she likes the look of things. “Crop is doing well,” she says while taking a phone call that keeps her from doing what she should be doing. Early picking, she adds, has already begun on a few ofher neighbor’s farms. But first, I ask the question to make sure I’ve got it right: ‘How do you spell chile?’ I ask because there are actually multiple spellings of the word. “I just call it chile,” she said. “I get tired of that whole ****. You might just want to Google it,” punctuating her words with a friendly laugh. I take her advice and Google it.
‘Chili’, according to Merriam Webster, is the most common form of the word and used for both the pepper and the food derived from it, including red and green chili. The dictionary also says ‘chilli’ is more often found in British English or as a plural form of the word. ‘Chile’ is more often used in the southwest where the majority of it is grown. It is also the Spanish form of the word.
Mauro and Musso along with a handful of other Pueblo chile farmers are enjoying what may be a bumper crop of the fruit—yes, it is a fruit! —that’s put Pueblo on the map. Of course, Pueblo’s known for other things, too. But it’s chile— Pueblo chile—that’s a whole other matter.
Chile aficionados swear that the various varieties grown in Pueblo County and much of the Arkansas Valley are the best. So good, they say, that the other crop grown in New Mexico— Hatch, if you must know— isn’t even close.
Mauro and Musso have everything in place for the rush they know is coming. “I have set up all my roasters,” Mauro said. The aroma from the roast, chile lovers swear, can be almost heavenly. “The first roast smells great,” Mauro agrees. “The last one smells even better.”
The two Pueblo chile growers agree that the crop should be in great shape for the city’s annual “Chile & Frijoles Festival” set for September 22-24th. It will be the city’s 30th celebration of the event. Last year, more than 150,000 locals and visitors descended on Pueblo’s historic Union Avenue for food, music and celebration of the region’s crown jewel.
Of course, if you can’t make the hour and forty-minute drive from Denver to Pueblo for the festival, Mauro and Musso can help out with your ‘chile fix.’ “We sell all over the country,” Mauro said. “If they’re not able to make it (for the festival), I’ll ship it.” Same with Musso who, thanks to technology, has shipped his product to nearly every state but also now all over the world.
“Twenty-five percent of what we grow is sent out of town and out of state,” the grandson of immigrant farmers says. Technology has now made it possible to freeze-dry his chile and allow it to go “everywhere you can imagine.” In fact, he ships it every year to one customer in Japan who, like clockwork, orders each Fall.
“A couple of friends went on vacation in Japan,” he said. They took some chile and introduced it to some of their Japanese friends. “They ended up liking it,” and the rest is history.
Of course, both Mauro and Musso have parlayed their chile into far more than just the spicy crop. Both run stores that have evolved from their early origins. “It’s more a full grocery store, not a farm stand,” Mauro said. They have introduced chile into everything from hot dogs to cheese dip to zucchini and banana bread. “Everything you can imagine.”
Musso said the same. His family has run a similar operation on the mesa for decades and he’s lost count of the things his chile’s infused in, rattling off a litany and sounding like Forrest Gump’s partner in their envisioned shrimp company. “It’s anything you can imagine.”
But Musso, like chile lovers—but especially chile growers—is as invested in his crop for business as he is as a daily source of flavor. “I eat a lot of chile. It’s a part of my daily diet,” he swears. “It’s hard to go without it and Pueblo chile? It’s the perfect spice. It goes with everything.”
Mauro’s Farm and Bakery is located at 836 36th Lane. It can be reached at 719.948.3381. Musso Farms is located at 35779 Hillside Road. Its phone is 719.948.3581.
