If you’ve watched a cooking show on tv in the last decade there is a good chance that you might have heard the word Fresno thrown about. But it likely wasn’t the chef or the contestant on the show who hailed from the Central Valley, but rather a chile pepper that has a local origin. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story behind the Fresno chile.
If you’ve never tasted a Fresno chile, it’s hard to describe. Slightly hotter than a jalapeno, but with a more complex flavor, the Fresno chile is the darling of chefs across the southwest and beyond. It’s a hybrid of the species Capsicum annuum, the same plant that gives us everything from the bell pepper to the habanero. It’s a member of the nightshade family, so think of it as a distant cousin to the tomato. Peppers like these have been cultivated in Mexico for 6,000 years. But the Fresno chile is much more recent. And it’s not actually from the City of Fresno.
The Fresno chile is a hybrid developed by seed merchant Clarence Brownie Hamlin in the 1950’s at his farm in Clovis. Hamlin decided to name the chile after his home county, so Fresno chile it is. While not nearly as popular as the jalapeno, it’s prized by chefs for its complex flavor and heat. From barbeque to cocktails, chefs and mixologists continue to find new ways to embrace the heat and flavor that makes the Fresno chili famous across the U.S. and beyond.
