Chile Pepper Institute

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.{{cite web|title=Paul W. Bosland|url=http://aces.nmsu.edu/academics/pes/paul-w-bosland.html|website=New Mexico State University|accessdate=9 May 2015|archive-date=May 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512190514/http://aces.nmsu.edu/academics/pes/paul-w-bosland.html|url-status=live}}

The Chile Pepper Institute is responsible for discovering the then world's hottest chile pepper, the Bhut Jolokia, led by Paul W. Bosland, and confirmed by the Guinness World Records in the Fall of 2006.{{cite web|last1=Bannister|first1=Justin|title=NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute gets fired up with 'Holy Jolokica' hot sauce|url=http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/4551/|website=New Mexico State University|ref=Discovery|date=1 May 2009|access-date=September 1, 2013|archive-date=September 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928054357/http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/4551/|url-status=live}} 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,{{cite web|title=Database of Chile Pepper Varieties|url=http://www.thechileman.org/results.php?chile=1&find=NUMEX%20BIG%20JIM&heat=Any&origin=Any&genus=Any|website=The Chile Man|access-date=September 1, 2013|archive-date=September 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928003232/http://www.thechileman.org/results.php?chile=1&find=NUMEX%20BIG%20JIM&heat=Any&origin=Any&genus=Any|url-status=live}} and the recently released specimen chile pepper, NuMex Heritage 6-4, which is five times the flavor of a standard green chile.{{cite web|last1=Bosland|first1=Paul W.|title='NuMex Heritage 6-4' New Mexican Chile Pepper|url=http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/H64.full.pdf|website=New Mexico State University, HortScience|accessdate=9 May 2015|date=2012|quote=The New Mexico Chile Pepper Breeding and Genetics Program announces the release of ‘NuMex Heritage 6-4’|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319181151/http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/H64.full.pdf|archive-date=19 March 2015|url-status=dead}}

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)

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.{{cite web|title=NuMex Twilight: A Rainbow Of Fire|url=https://www.pepperscale.com/numex-twilight/|website=PepperScale|accessdate=1 July 2017|date=29 August 2015|archive-date=December 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217201726/https://www.pepperscale.com/numex-twilight/|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|last1=Diacono|first1=Mark|authorlink=Mark Diacono|title=Take a fresh look at cool chille peppers|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9101408/Take-a-fresh-look-at-cool-chilli-peppers.html|website=The Telegraph|accessdate=3 May 2015|date=25 February 2012|archive-date=September 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922031927/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9101408/Take-a-fresh-look-at-cool-chilli-peppers.html|url-status=live}} Other varieties, such as the NuMex Centennial and NuMex Easter move through other color ranges.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHiAe-kS92AC&q=%22NuMex+Twilight%22&pg=PA570|title=Flower Breeding and Genetics: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century|last=Anderson|first=Neil O.|date=2007-10-04|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781402065699|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.savannahnow.com/accent/column/2017-10-13/garden-guru-numex-easter-peppers-bring-bold-colors-flavors|title=Garden Guru: NuMex Easter peppers bring bold colors, flavors|last=Winter|first=Norman|work=Savannah Morning News|access-date=2018-11-02|language=en}} The NuMex April Fools' Day cultivar has bundles of purple peppers which point upward, resembling a jester hat.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=67631|title=Southern Gardening: Try NuMex, other ornamental peppers|work=The Commercial Dispatch|access-date=2018-11-02|archive-date=January 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114195420/http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=67631|url-status=live}}

• World Vegetable Center

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://cpi.nmsu.edu/ Official website]
• {{Facebook |id=The-Chile-Pepper-Institute/107449619277121}}
• {{Twitter}}

{{New Mexico State University}}

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Category:New Mexico State University

Category:Chili peppers

Category:Food science institutes

Category:Las Cruces, New Mexico

Category:1992 establishments in New Mexico

Category:Research institutes established in 1992