Chili peppers drying in front of an adobe home, Mexico, 1925

About this postcard

Strings of bright red chili peppers hang from the brush ramada of a flat-roofed adobe house. A seated figure, a dog, and scattered household goods occupy the sandy yard. Drying peppers in ristras outside the home was a common way to preserve the harvest in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest; the dried pods kept through the year and could be sold or traded. The scene captures a household task tied to the region's foodways and small-scale agriculture.