Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.
Brayden, Sabrina, and Rachel scraped the charred skins off poblano peppers, squished out the seeds, and dropped the slippery pepper flesh into a stainless steel bowl.
“Guys! Why are we leaving so many seeds in there?” 16-year-old Sabrina said, half laughing, half exasperated.
“Oh my God, they just keep appearing,” said Brayden, also 16. “I clean it off and eight more show up.”
It was almost 9 a.m. on a Tuesday, and the three worked with classmates to make posole in their first class of the day at STEAD School, a charter school in Commerce City northeast of Denver. In just over two hours, the fragrant Mexican soup of hominy, chicken, peppers, and tomatillos would be the star of their high school’s lunch line. Grapes, orange wedges, and a salad bar were …