Colorado’s green chile cuisine wouldn’t exist without Fabián García

DENVER — As summer comes to an end in Colorado, green chiles roasting at roadside stands are a familiar sight and smell. But this iconic pepper of Colorado cuisine wouldn’t be so popular today if it weren’t for one man almost 100 years ago.

Fabián García, known as father of the New Mexico chile, was a Mexican-American horticulturist who pioneered new ways to grow food in the hot and dry conditions of the American Southwest.

The green chiles we eat today — especially those grown in Hatch, New Mexico — all trace back to peppers cultivated by García in the early 1900s.

“ [García] transformed the physical landscape, and we can see it on a daily basis,” said Dr. Peter Kopp, a history professor at the University of Colorado Denver.

But outside of New Mexico, García’s story has largely been forgotten. That’s why Kopp is writing a book about García’s trailblazing contributions to American agriculture, “Fabián García: Father of the New Mexico Chile Pepper.”

“My hope is that people outside of the broader Southwest will read the story and embrace him as a national hero much like George Washington Carver,” Kopp said.

You can read the rest of this story and
watch the accompanying video at Denver7.com