- Tariffs are jeopardizing the only single-origin Mexican chiles to become available in the US.
- Chiles grown in Mexico don’t taste the same once removed from their native environment.
- Celebrity chef Rick Bayless says the restaurant industry now “lives in fear” of potential tariffs.
Sweet, fruity, and savory, a shipment of single-origin Mexican chiles previously unavailable in the US is now sitting at the Southern border. But thanks to Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs, they may never make it to your spice racks.
For more than two years, Ethan Frisch, CEO of Burlap & Barrel, a public benefit corporation, has been trying to get a batch of heirloom chiles known for their intense flavors and health benefits from a farm in Querétaro, Guanajuato, to consumers in the US.
After losing the initial shipment of chiles to a drought and an insect infestation in 2023, Frisch spent the next year securing a professional processor, making research trips, and getting the farm set up to become an exporter instead of going through a third party.
After a successful growing season in 2024, around 3,000 pounds of processed and ground chiles are finally ready for American dinner tables, only to face the prospects of a 25% tariff at the border, which could erase profits or ruin the goal of making them accessible to ordinary consumers.
“There’s been a lot of stop and start,” said Frisch, recalling conversations with his team after the briefly paused tariffs returned early March. “We were like ‘let’s stall, the tariffs are in place, don’t get this across the border right now.’ And then a couple days later the tariffs are gone and we’re like ‘go, go hurry, let’s get them across before the tariffs come back.'”
“This is a spice we would want to be somebody’s daily use spice in their home kitchen, but with a 25% tariff on it, it really changes the price calculation, and we don’t even know if we would be able to sell the full quantity that we got at that higher price,” he added.
Failing to sell a significant quantity of chiles this year would mean that this project could no longer sustain another year to build a market. Even if it does sell at a higher price point, households of average income would likely be priced out given current consumer sentiment.
A rich culinary history of chiles in Mexico
Whereas Americans may see chiles as a monolith, these spicy fruits have different names and uses in Mexico depending on their harvest time, color, thickness, moisture, and drying method.
During Frisch’s trip to Oaxaca to study the history of chiles, he learned that not only are humans evolutionarily drawn to spice, modern medicine is just beginning to see the health benefits of capsaicin compounds in chiles on inflammation, muscle recovery, and arthritis — benefits that have long been understood in traditional practices in Central America.
The specific chiles Frisch spent years trying to import are guajillo, ancho, and pasilla. While the former is bright in taste and light in color, the latter two have the texture of raisins and robust flavors that range from dried tomatoes to dark chocolate.
Though chiles by these names are also bred and grown on some specialty farms in the US, this shipment would be the only native heirloom chiles of these types grown in Mexico by an artisan farmer to enter the US.
“Each type of chile is unique because these plants are highly adaptable and could change in dramatic ways in terms of taste and heat in every region it has spread to across the world,” Frisch said. “That adaptability almost represents the movements of people.”
Rick Bayless, an award-winning chef who runs Michelin-starred restaurants specializing in Mexican cuisine, is among the many waiting for these chiles to cross the border.
“In the past, everyone was connected through food to different people, but we’ve really eroded a lot of that,” Bayless said. “My excitement about single-origin food like these chiles has a lot to do with the fact that I feel like they’re helping me and my customers get back to that direct connection.”
Bayless added that he had gone the extra mile in the past to have the same chile seeds brought to the US and cultivated, yet the flavor just wasn’t the same — and it wasn’t as good. If tariffs go through, it could impede access to a range of unique products, and that might mean taking things off the menu for him.
“The importers, the distributors, and the restaurant chefs that I talk to all the time — everybody just lives in fear because we have no idea what would happen,” Bayless said. “If you have some steel and it sits in a warehouse for several years, it’s still fine, but not food products.”
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