Boonville Barn Collective turns up the heat

Boonville Style

By Yvonne Boyd

MARKETING & OUTREACH MANAGER

Hot, sweet, red, yellow, ground into a powder or dried whole, Boonville Barn Collective is all things peppers and more. Located in beautiful Anderson Valley just off Highway 128 between Boonville and Philo you will find the farming operation of Boonville Barn Collective. With a big wooden barn on one side of the highway and processing facilities on the other, the farm not only produces twelve varieties of peppers, but also dry beans, strawberries, and even a few olive trees, all on about ten acres.

Woman-owned and operated by Krissy Scommegna, Boonville Barn is known for their Piment d’Ville chile powder made from Espelette chile peppers. Earlier this month, I was able to spend a morning on the farm with Krissy, co-owner Gideon Burdick, and farm foreman Nacho Flores. After some early morning harvesting of peppers and a tour of the farm and facilities, we sat down together so I could learn a little bit more about Boonville Barn Collective.

Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Krissy came to Northern California for an internship at The Boonville Hotel eleven years ago. She was supposed to be there for just four months but ended up staying for five years. While at the Hotel she worked a variety of jobs, but the one she became most excited about was working in the kitchen cooking. The Boonville Hotel is focused on sourcing as much local produce as possible - or growing it themselves - and they wanted to extend that philosophy to their spices. While she was using a French Piment d’Espelette chile powder in her cooking, Krissy was able to find fifty seeds of this unique pepper. She then gave the seeds to Nacho and asked him if he could grow them, which he did of course, and then they were faced with the question “what next?"

Next was figuring out how to dry and grind the chiles to create their own Piment d’Ville chile powder. With this hurdle passed back in 2012, their chile powder became the chile powder of Boonville. Fast-forward to the end of 2019 when Krissy and husband Gideon founded Boonville Barn Collective, bringing all their farm's products under one roof.

FARMER PROFILE

THE HOW-TO'S OF GROWING CHILE POWDER, BOONVILLE STYLE

Nacho explained growing chilies takes not just hard work but also a lot of love. Everything needs to be coordinated and balanced to work with much attention paid to detail.

Chile powder from start to finish takes around ten months. A typical growing season begins in February by germinating the seeds and by June the starts are ready to go into the ground. Most chiles are harvested mid-September to early November, and October through early December is spent processing, drying, and grinding.

All chiles are harvested by hand and then go to the greenhouse for a few weeks to age and develop their flavor. Next, also by hand, the seeds and stems are taken out and the chiles are put into the dehydrator for a few days until a little crispy. Once out of the dehydrator they are ground into chile powder and then packaged, all while being kept as fresh as possible.

The farm is Mendocino Renegade certified, and all chiles are grown with organic sustainable practices.

above: Nacho sorts freshly-harvested chiles. below: Find Piment d'Ville in our Spices section! above: Espelette pepper seeds below: Boonville Barn Collective barn on Hwy 128

COOKING WITH CHILE POWDER

When I asked about the various ways to cook with the Piment d’Ville, Krissy and Gideon suggested spending some time using it as a replacement for your black pepper. Nacho added a good start is with eggs! Sweet with a hint of heat the Piment d’Ville comes in classic, spicy, and smokey. Once you’ve mastered this you can then move up the spice ladder and try some comapeño or poblano chili powders.

The Piment d’Ville is truly unique and worthy of being used for your daily cooking. We are happy here at the Co-op to carry not just the Piment d’Ville but also their whole dried chili peppers, Golden State Seasoning Salt, Citrus and Chile Marmalade, and the Cellar Door Strawberry preserves with Piment d’Ville. Stop by and pick up some today!