Our Story

My name is Kyle, and I am the maker behind NM ChileJang. I am passionate about the amazing produce here in New Mexico, Korean cuisine, and the love of chiles that binds the two together.

On a trip to Korea I was blown away by the quality difference that cottage gochujang had compared to what was commercially available in the US. The depth of flavor, the varying heat levels and the beauty in the uniqueness each maker brought to their product. I tasted many and had alot more on different dishes as I ate my way through Seoul and Busan. I took a cooking class going over simple korean home meals, in which my instructor was making gochujang, doenjang, and guanjang in her 27th floor apartment in Busan. I was blown away by the lack of fermentation funk in the air and was inspired to try fermenting one of these korean mother sauces at home. While walking through the countless markets in Korea I started to notice the Korean Gochu, or red chiles they had in giant piles among other produce. I would help but compare their similarities to our beloved Red Chiles here in New Mexico. Hence an idea was born to combine the two chile cultures and create a truly unique New Mexican Gochujang, and NM ChileJang was born. What started out as another home fermentation project slowly over time fermented into a business, centered on community engagement and connection. Through the help of Three Sisters Kitchen and Street Food Institute, two incredible food and community focused nonprofits here in Albuquerque the process started from turning NM Chilejang from a hobby to a business. 

Much like fermentation this process took time. This is the first of its kind in New Mexico and only one of 2  in the US utilizing traditional Korean methods. There was a year long back and forth with local health departments and lots of knowledge shared between us to come to a place of understanding to make this happen. Over that year I also received a tremendous amount of support and encouragement from our local food community here in New Mexico. I feel the strength and love found in our food community is very unique to New Mexico and fosters a space for growth and knowledge sharing as opposed to competition among one another. 

I not only want to bring high quality ferments to our food system here but to encourage anyone who is also interested in fermentation to start theirs. I offer fermentation classes at the Barelas Community Kitchen and am willing to help in any way I can. I truly believe fermentation is a way to better our food systems by helping prevent food waste, improve gut health, and introduce new flavors and concepts into our rich chile culture.