| When Wayne James and his sister, Lee,
began growing chiles on their farm, Tierra Vegetables, in Healdsburg,
California, about 20 years ago, there was little demand for
them. They planted the peppers simply because they liked them,
and they sold them at local farmers' markets, mostly dried and
strung into ristras-those ornamental chains that are a traditional
Southwestern symbol of abundance. When interest in the foods
of the Southwest and Mexico began to rise in the late 1980s,
their customers started asking for a variety of chiles, both
fresh and smoked. The Jameses responded wholeheartedly and were
soon harvesting 50 kinds of chiles every autumn (the pods ripen
from August through November in their part of California). Then,
in 1995, a bumper crop left them with far more chiles than they
could sell. Looking for a way to deal with the excess, Lee suggested
turning them into jam- and she knew just whom to ask for help:
Ellen Adamson of Happy Haven Ranch in the nearby town of Sonoma.
Adamson is something of a jam-making legend, so when she agreed
to take on the Jameses' extra chiles, they were thrilled. The
three agreed that Lee and Wayne would create assorted flavor
combinations and deliver batches of chopped and premixed chiles
to Adamson, who would handle the actual jam making (in her 40-gallon
steam-jacketed kettle) and packaging.
Tierra's chile jams debuted that winter and blasted off the
stands at the farmers' markets, quickly becoming a signature
product of the farm. The jams, made from just chiles, sugar,
vinegar, and pectin, come in eight eclectically named styles,
including the searingly hot C. chinense, based on scotch bonnets,
habaneros, and ajis (the C. stands for Capsicum, the genus
of peppers, and chinense is the species name for scotch bonnets
and habaneros); the grassy-tasting, greenish Verde, a blend
of serranos and jalapenos; and the smoky, subtly spicy Chipotle.
All are great on crackers with goat cheese or cream cheese,
as glazes for meats, and alongside scrambled eggs, sandwiches,
or anything, says Lee, that "needs a little kick".
~Saveur Magazine, June/July 2003
Tierra Vegetables In the News
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