Try to imagine a dining table or a festive occasion without chile. For many of us, it is inconceivable. No other food has spawned such universal interest, pleasure and magic as chile.

In our family kitchen, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter feature festive consumption of chile dishes. Traditionally during the holidays, a favorite recipe is spicy chile colorado con carne served with an entrée. Homemade salsas, red or green, are customarily served daily.

My business is about a family that came together to create a chile production and chile processing business. We started with my father's farm in the 1920s. Today, our family business in La Mesa has become a value-added chile processing and distributing facility called Cervantes Enterprises.

We process many varieties of chile sauces and specialize in Louisiana-style hot sauces manufactured from cayenne pepper. The fermented sauce is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. Our business has created many job opportunities, and working with us is a second-generation work force.

Besides diversified farming and chile processing, we serve on local and national boards of directors related to the agricultural industry.

The farming of chile has drastically changed since my ancestors' time. Presently, the agricultural landscape is changing, and there are emerging opportunities that should be explored in the chile industry. We must view the path from production through distribution to consumption as an integrated whole.

Nevertheless, the chile industry remains a culture that has provided my family with a good living, a good quality of life and a legacy that will endure. A legacy, I hope, that will have chile roots that run deep.

Emma Jean Cervantes is a third-generation Mesilla Valley farmer, entrepreneur and manufacturer. Since 1991, she has been chair of the board of directors for NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute. In 1996, she was honored by the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences as the Philip J. Leyendecker Agriculturist of Distinction. She is a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Research, Extension Education and Economics Board.