NMSU Chile Pepper Institute

Quirky, but cool to visit if you are a spice nut with a little bit of time. They have a variety of sauces that you can taste, and for me most exciting a lot of seeds that were available for purchase. Not a ton of signage expect for their current projects. The room is located within an academic building but well signed. The garden which is a drive away wasn’t worth it as it didn’t really appear to be open to the public.

Best current breeding program I have been able to find. I try aome of their gear every year.

This place is a little hard to find, it’s inside a university building on the second floor. So glad we found it because they carry the green chile candles from the New Mexico Candle Company - amazing! They also had green chile praline and peanut brittle, which I’m so glad I bought! It’s fantastically good. The people working there are helpful and it’s a fun place to get all things green chile.

Fun, educational experience - it's as much a small museum as a gift shop. Seeds of New Mexican chiles are available here now; they can be hard to find otherwise. And, yes, there are plenty of gifts, from books to sauces, cards to posters. Great place!

Great place to buy some gifts. We usually purchase our Chile ristras from here because they are large and sprayed with a gloss. They hold up well all year long on our outside patio. We also like to purchase a couple of bags of frozen chile to take to friends or family. Each quart bag holds about 6 large roasted and peeled chile. I haven't tried the salsa yet,but the Mrs. Rentrows habanero queso will light your tongue on fire and then your pants. Watch out, this is hot stuff! Save yourself and dont purchase the cute green chile air freshener. It stinks! I still have not been able to get that smell out of my car. It looks super cute,but dont open it and what ever you do,dont hang it in your car.