Color me peppers

COYANOSA Whether you spell it chile or chili, hot peppers are becoming an increasingly popular business in West Texas.

While the area isn't producing as many chili peppers as New Mexico or Arizona, Michael Biad, a partner Biad Chili Co. Ltd., said West Texas now provides about a quarter of the growing acres for his Mesilla Park, N.M., company.

"Every year, it seems to be increasing," he said.

And while many of the chilies are used in food seasonings, some are going into red food coloring. Biad said the coloring goes into everything from paint to lipstick.

Armando Mandujano, a farmer in the Pecos County community of Coyanosa, said a growing amount of space on his 2,800-acre farm is going toward chili peppers. While approximately 120 acres of the farm are dedicated to popular Pecos cantaloupes this year, Mandujano said 550 acres would go toward hot peppers between his farm and the one his father owns.

While the area is known for its cantaloupes, Mandujano, who sells chilies to Biad, said the peppers are just more practical. The cantaloupes must be harvested by hand, but the peppers can be picked by machines. The peppers also stay fresh longer.

"We don't use as much labor, and if you don't harvest them one day, you can harvest them the next day," Mandujano said of chili peppers. "Cantaloupes, you've really got to stay on the ball."

Farmers start harvesting the peppers, which turn from green to red as they get older, in late September and continue through early December, Mandujano said.