Anaheim Chile Pepper

The Anaheim Chile pepper is a mild variety of the Hatch Chile. The name “Anaheim” derives from Emilio Ortega, a farmer who brought the seeds from New Mexico to the Anaheim, California, area in the early 1900s.

They are also called California chile or Magdalena, and dried as chile seco del norte. Varieties of the pepper grown in New Mexico (Hatch peppers) tend to be hotter than those grown in California.

The chile “heat” of Anaheims typically ranges from 500 to 2,500 on the Scoville scale, however, the Hatch varieties grown in New Mexico can reach 4,500 to 5,000 Scoville units.