My neighborhood commercial greenhouse is called Agra and I buy my New Mexico starts from them as I don’t have a lot of room in my greenhouse for germinating seeds. They gave me some starts of a new variety they’re carrying, ‘Lumbre’, which means “fire” in Spanish. It is much hotter than the ‘Sandia’ variety but still has a great flavor. Its pods are shorter and narrower than other New Mexican varieties but still has enough endocarp (meat) for roasting. ‘Lumbre’ was developed by Jimmy Lytle (left), son of Big Jim Lytle for whom the world-famous Big Jim variety is named. The pod size is 4 to 7 inches. It serves as a good additive to make mild peppers spicier. You don’t need to use much ‘Lumbre’ to spice up your favorite dish either! Seeds for ‘Lumbre’ are available here.
