New Mexico To Become The First State With An Official Aroma

Some states want you to come down and see their tallest building or largest bridge, or even taste some of the local cuisines. New Mexico, on the other hand, invites you to stop by and… smell it.

The state is trying to pass a law that allows it to officially name roasted chile as the scent of New Mexico.

The peppers are a unique part of the state’s culture and cuisine, and now they’re being honored in a truly unique way. New Mexico—also home to Hatch, an agricultural village known for its red and green peppers—accounted for more than 60% of the production of chiles in the US in 2021. The produce is turned into sauces, salsa, and powder, then shipped worldwide.

Per The Guardian, Travis Day, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association, shared that the peppers are such a big part of people’s everyday lives that each person has a “chile story” that conjures up a specific memory. How the food has been weaved into the lives of everyone has the council confident that the legislators in charge of making the decision will not have a hard time agreeing to the proposition.

Aside from this, New Mexico hopes to win its ongoing feud with Colorado, another state known for roasted peppers claiming its chiles are comparable to those found in New Mexico.

As it is, the months when chiles are being freshly roasted throughout the state also coincide with New Mexico’s tourist season, a perfect time for visitors to come and smell its famed aroma.

The aroma legislation has just passed its first committee on Tuesday.

[via Boing Boing and The Guardian, Photo 42838328 © Harvey Stowe | Dreamstime.com]