The right chile can change your life—just ask Krissy Scommegna. While working as a sous-chef at California’s Boonville Hotel and Restaurant, Krissy became enamored with piment d’Espelette, a flavorful, versatile chile grown in France’s Basque region. A culinary staple there, Espelette chiles are beloved for their fruity sweetness, gentle acidity, and mild, peppery heat, yet remain hard to find outside the region. Until now.

With the help of her fiancé Gideon Burdick, foreman Nacho Flores, and grower Martin Flores, Scommegna founded the Boonville Barn Collective in 2012 and has been growing Espelette chiles in the congenial climate of Mendocino County, California ever since. She owns and oversees a seven-acre farm that, in addition to being one of the largest producers of Espelette-style chiles outside of France, also grows strawberries, olives, five varieties of heirloom Italian white beans, along with several other superb chiles. We're grateful to Krissy for sharing her passion for piment d'Espelette with us; we think you will be too.