The Chile Pepper Institute at
New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...
in
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...
, is an international research-based and non-profit organization specializing in research, education and archiving information related to ''Capsicum'' or
chile peppers. The institute was established in 1992 and is devoted to research and education about
chile peppers. Its research facility is named for
Fabián García, a Mexican-American horticulturalist dubbed "the father of the U.S. chile pepper industry", who began standardizing varieties of chile pepper in 1888.
Overview
The Chile Pepper Institute is a research institute and is the only international organization that is devoted to the research, resource, and education of chile peppers. The institute promotes chile peppers. CPI is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on the campus of New Mexico State University, and research is conducted at the Fabian Garcia Horticultural Center, where it also showcases 100–200 varieties of chile pepper from around the world. Paul W. Bosland is the current director and the co-founder of The Chile Pepper Institute, who is also a professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University, where he leads the chile breeding and genetics research program.
The Chile Pepper Institute is responsible for discovering the then world's hottest chile pepper, the
Bhut Jolokia
The ghost pepper, also known as ''bhut jolokia'' ( or 'Ghost pepper' in Assamese language, Assamese), is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India. It is a hybrid of ''Capsicum chinense'' and ''Capsicum frutescens''.
In ...
, led by Paul W. Bosland, and confirmed by the
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
in the Fall of 2006.
Many interesting records about chile peppers are discovered at the Chile Pepper Institute including the world's largest chile pepper, the Numex Big Jim specimen, that was developed in 1976 at
NMSU,
and the recently released specimen chile pepper, NuMex Heritage 6-4, which is five times the flavor of a standard green chile.
CPI also host different programs, events and conferences in local, national, and international levels. These include:
* The Annual New Mexico Chile Conference
* European Association for Plant Breeding Research (
EUCARPIA)
* Chile Pepper Institute Teaching Garden
* The Annual Chile Conference
* The International Pepper Conference
* Agricultural Science Summer Undergraduate Research Education and Development Program (ASSURED Program)
Cultivars
The Chile Pepper Institute produces numerous pepper cultivars in unusual colors and shapes, such as the NuMex Twilight, a hybrid based on the
Thai Ornamental pepper. The peppers of the Twilight start out white, turn purple, then move through yellow and orange, becoming red when fully ripe, producing a rainbow effect on the green plant. Other varieties, such as the NuMex Centennial and NuMex Easter move through other color ranges. The NuMex April Fools' Day cultivar has bundles of purple peppers which point upward, resembling a
jester hat.
See also
*
World Vegetable Center
References
External links
Official website*
*
{{authority control
New Mexico State University
Chili peppers
Food science institutes
Las Cruces, New Mexico
1992 establishments in New Mexico
Research institutes established in 1992