NuMex (New Mexican)

Strictly speaking, NuMex chillies are not a variety or species, but a wide range of different varieties from the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University with a huge range of heat, appearance and flavour. The breeders had a wide variety of goals: specific colours, high yields, fast ripening, a distinct taste, heat, resistance or even climatic adaptation.

Chillies have been bred at New Mexico State University (NMSU) since 1888. The first variety was scientifically described in 1921 ("New Mexico No. 9"), and since then many new cultivars have emerged from this variety, although many other varieties from all over the world are also included in the hybrids.
The Chile Pepper Institute in Las Cruces was founded in 1992 and has been dedicated to researching, teaching and archiving the Capsicum genus ever since. The research has resulted in several hundred new varieties, including the NuMex Big Jim variety, which was introduced in 1975 and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the "longest chilli in the world" with a length of almost 35 cm.

A special variety is the NuMex Suave Orange (and Red), a habanero variety without the biting heat, but with its typical fruity habanero flavour. It was first introduced to the public in 2004. It originated from seeds from an anonymous source who named the varieties Aji red and Aji yellow and belonged to the species Capsicum chinense. At 335 and 774 SHU, the resulting varieties are milder than all known C. chinense varieties. The fruits look just like habaneros, but the plants grow larger.

In honour of Joe E. Parker (1950), a graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture and Ecotrophology at NMSU, which is home to the Chile Pepper Institute, and who was involved in this breeding, a new chilli variety from 1990 was named NuMex Joe E. Parker . The variety is specially adapted to the climate of New Mexico`s chilli farms and is particularly productive there, both when green and red. The variety is mild and resistant to the tobacco mosaic virus.

The NuMex Centennial variety was developed to mark the 100th anniversary of NSMU in 1988. It is the first ornamental chilli variety for small planters, which also thrives on windowsills and in hanging baskets. Its leaves and flowers are purple in colour and the small, upright-growing chillies have a wonderful play of colours ranging from purple to yellow, orange and a rich red. The original plant comes from Chihuahua, Mexico.

The NuMex Sandia variety dates back to 1956 and is a cross between the first cultivar New Mexico No. 9 and the popular Californian Anaheim chilli. The chillies are somewhat more robust than the Anaheims and the plants are more productive. They reach a heat of around 1,500 to 2,000 SHU and are very popular with hobby gardeners in the south of the USA.

In 1988, the Chile Pepper Institute introduced three new varieties: NuMex Sunrise, Sunset and Eclipse. In New Mexico, it is traditional to tie different coloured chillies into ristras and hang them at the entrance to the house as a symbol of hospitality and good luck. Only chillies that can be dried well without rotting can be used for this. The three varieties were bred for this purpose. They produce the same fruits, only they ripen in yellow (Sunrise), orange (Sunset) and brown (Eclipse). Grown together in the garden or on the balcony, they produce a beautiful play of colours. The pods are elongated and have hardly any heat.

A variety without heat, which is more of a sweet, aromatic pointed pepper, is called NuMex Conquistador. The elongated, thick-fleshed pods ripen to a glossy red colour and grow to around 9 to 12 cm long. The chillies are particularly suitable for crunchy salads, for stuffing or for the barbecue.

Source: https://cpi.nmsu.edu/chile-info/nmsu-cultivars.html