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Searching
for the Peperoncini
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Calabria
-- that's the southern tip of the Italian boot. Warm currents of
the Meditererranian Sea and an average of 300 days of sunshine a
year determine the mild climate that lets chiles -- called peperoncini
in Italy -- grow so well here.
As
evidenced in our story about Diamante,
the popular hot pods are omnipresent there, and in many other
Calabrian villages as well. On literally any balcony, the chiles
are drying as strings (called filas here, much like ristras
in New Mexico), and they are a key ingredient in many local
dishes. Specialty shops offer a wide variety of peperoncino
products. Most hot peperoncini sold fresh or canned in Europe come
from this region.
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If
your're driving along the coast, you'll hardly see any chilies, though,
except for the occasional plant in a residential front yard, underneath
lemon or olive trees, together with all sorts of herbs. Trips off the
coast into the Calabrian hill country don't reveal more chiles
either -- all you notice here besides woods are vineyards and lots of
olive trees. Or huge fields with those flavorful plum tomatoes that are
harvested red at the peak of ripeness -- so much better than the usual
greenhouse crop. So where are those huge amounts of chiles growing that
are used in dishes at home and at restaurants, that are sold on markets,
and used to manufacture all those delicious peperoncino products?
A
little Help of our Friends
We
probably would have never found out without the help of our friends from
a Calabrian company we deal with, Delizie di Calabria. The
family-owned company in Catanzaro makes a line of upscale peperoncino
delicacies, using pods grown in their own fields. So with our little
knowledge of the Italian language, we manage to make an appointment with
Morena, the owner's daughter, and her husband Raffaelo, who also works
at the gourmet food company. We meet in a picturesque mountain village
named San Marco Argentano, just one hour driving southeast of Diamante,
over winding roads, through green woody mountains and countless tunnels.
Time seems to stand still in this old village originally built by the
Normans about 500 years ago -- no evident signs of tourism.
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Peperoncino
field, olive trees in the background
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Our
meeting point is the old cathedral. Our friends brought Enzo, who
is not only their peperoncino field manager but also a chile
expert. Renate and I park our subcompact rental car and join the
group in their offroad bus. Off we go cross-country into regions
we would never have found on our own, and which are probably not
marked on any tourist map. After half an hour driving through
beautiful vineyards loaded with mature red and white grapes, we
make our first stop. Endless fields, and already from the distance
we can see them shining on the low-growing plants: peperoncini,
finally! What a beautiful sight! The horizon is lined by
hundred-year old olive trees. How many peperoncino plants, Renate
wants to know. "All together, about 250, 000" Enzo
estimates. That's a lot of peperoncini. We start strolling through
the fields and notice the different varieties.
Any
jar of hot Italian peppers sold in Europe just says
"Peperoncini" on the label, but out here it becomes
evident that this is a generic name, just like "chiles"
in the Americas, or "chilis" in Europe (sometimes
spelled "chillies").
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Morena
and Harald with miniature cherry
peperoncini, one of the area's specialties. |
And
just like on the American continent, there's an incredible variety in
chiles, differing in apperance, flavor and heat. What all these
Calabrian varieties have in common is that they thrive in this
particular climate characterized by a certain altitude, ocean air, and
lots of sunshine. Obviously not only the wine benefits from this, but
the peperoncini as well, which -- besides more or less heat -- all have
a very intense and distinctive flavor.
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Amando,
a very flavorful variety. Similar to big Cayenne in appearance and
as fiery, but fleshier.
Wine
and chiles thrive well in this soil and climate. |
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As
we are marching through the pepper fields under the relentless
afternoon sun, Enzo picks pods of every variety for us to taste.
One is named Naso di Cane
("dog nose"). We're biting the bullet, uhm, pod. It
turns out to be
"dolce" - surprisingly sweet, not hot at all, but with
lots of flavor.
"Now
try this one," Enzo says, handing us a 2-inch long thin red
pod, named Sigaretta (cigarette) for its appearance.
Leaves even nonsmokers with smokin' jaws. Wish we brought some
beverages.
Additional
pods we sample under the eyes of our tour guide ignite fireworks
in our mouths that last for 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the
variety. Our faces are getting sweaty, not only because of the
southern Italian sun. Naso di Cane
("dog nose" chile) |
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Sigaretta
- the cigarette-shaped
pods guarantee smokin' jaws. |
We
notice that weeds are competing with chiles in growth -- many
varieties are grown organically here, without any use of herbicides
or pesticides. Weeds
are just plowed under after harvest. Organically
grown chiles |
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Especially
the hot varieties are getting just as much irrigation as
neccessary, Enzo explains. Just like in other pepper-growing
countries, they know that stress by watering sparingly results in
hotter chiles. Just recently it had rained, but that's rather rare
up here. Black plastic mulch is used to protect the soil from
drying up under the intense sun, as shown in the left picture of
cherry peperoncini (Ciliegia). The mulch comes with
pre-cut planting holes, and underneath the plastic foil, there's
also a perforated irrigation hose. |
Raffaelo
proudly presenting a
beautiful peperoncino plant. |
Just
after Renate and I cooled down our mouths with tasty tomatoes from a
neighboring field, Enzo picks a newly developed variety for us to try. "That's
also a Naso di Cane," he says. And after we trustfully took
a good bite out of the juicy pod, he adds with a smile: "but this
new one is piccante". Wow. An interesting variety indeed, as
most of the hotter varieties tend to have small, thin-walled pods, but
this one's fleshy and fiery!
Peperoncino
Varieties
As
mentioned before, there's nothing like the Peperoncino. Italy -
especially Calabria - has a whole line of chiles to offer, from mild to
wild. Not all versions have "official" names, many are named
by local farmers, and similar varieties can go by different names in
other regions. Here's a selection of what we found in Calabria on our
peperoncino expedition:
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1
- Italian Cayenne variety, hot.
2
- Ciliegia (cherry), big, medium hot. Often used stuffed, then
pickled or in olive oil.
3
- Ciliegia , small cherry, hot. Available as whole pods, in olive
oil or dried.
4
- A popular hybrid, name unknown. Hot.
5
- Naso di Cane, mild and hot variety, offered dry, tied on a
string (fila).
6
- Amando, hot to very hot.
7
- Sigaretta, very hot (similar to Thai), grows upright in clusters.
8
- Another popular hybrid, name unknown. Hot.
9
- Name unknown, hot, gowing upright in clusters, just like
Sigaretta.
10
- Chiltepin-like variety with just 1/4" in diameter, very hot.
Got this one served in olive oil at a restaurant.
11
- Peperone, dolce (sweet). Used fresh in salads, roasted and
skinned for antipasti (appetizers) and pasta sauces, as well as
dried. |
Harvest
Time
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Our
next stop on this enjoyable guided tour is a roofed place right
next to the pepper fields. Piles of fresh peperoncino plants are
picked by hand here. Very clever: since the plants are used
just for one season, they collect the whole plants and harvest the
pods at a more convenient location, rather than slowly picking
their way through the rows in the field, which would be quite a
pain in the back. (Different story in Malawi and Zimbabwe, where
the Birdeye chile plants grown there are used for up to three
years before getting discarded.) |
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It
is September now, and harvest is in full swing. The growers plan to be
done by September 20.
So
what's happening to the Peperoncini?
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The
fiery field trip concludes in a huge, well ventilated building,
also close to the fields, ensuring short trips. Countless strings
of bright red chiles are lined up here for drying, ready to be
shipped by mid October. Busy hands are threading the pods for the filas,
the counterpart to New Mexican ristras. Even those
"mini cherries" are stringed up. What a beautiful sight.
This is pepper heaven! |
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Another
group of women cuts out and deseeds pods of the larger cherry
pepper variety, using a similar tool as for coring apples.
These
pods are then stuffed by Delizie di Calabria with delicious stuff
like porcini (wild mushrooms), anchovis (small sardines) or cheese,
then packed in olive oil.
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A
good deal of the hot pods is used to make the popular Calabrian
hot sauces (salsa piccante). Mixed with salt, the
destemmed pods are packed in barrels and then aged for at least 8
months, as shown here by Enzo. So far, the process is comparable
to the production of traditional Louisiana hot sauces in the USA.
The pureed chiles become part of the sauce, resulting in a thick
sauce with less vinegar, and with a very intense flavor. |
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The
sauces are used to spice up almost anything, particularly the
region's favorite pasta dish, Penne all'arrabiata. As
evidenced by this hot sauce label, Delizie di Calabria shows a
surprising sense of chilehead humor. Interestingly, the U.S.
version of their "Devil's Own Sauce" (Salsa del Diavolo)
got a different, "politically correct" label. Guess
they've never been to the Fiery-Foods and Barbecue Show ;-) |
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To
the right, a small selection of products made by Delizie di Calabria
is pictured, including hot sauces, hot peperoncino flakes and a
hot, very flavorful chile pepper powder (peperoncino macinato
piccante), small cherry chiles in extra virgin olive oil and
ceramics packed with dried chile products. It
was exciting for us to take this tour and witness all steps from
growing to processing, and find such a "hot" place in
the center of Europe. |
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It's
almost time to say good-bye, but first our three fiery friends invite us
to a street cafe in a small village on the way back to our car. It is
still hot, and we appreciate a special treat -- the popular local
beverage, a mix of sweet soda and cold coffee. Very refreshing,
especially after tasting all those peperoncini. Enzo arranges for yet
another treat: They are slicing a salsiccia for us, an air-dried
pork sausage, spiced with fennel seed and -- of course -- peperoncini.
Since we are enjoying this tasty sausage so much, Enzo buys a whole
sausage ring for us to take home. These folks are great. On our way
back, he makes yet another stop, at a bakery named
Antico Forno Normanno. (the antique Norman furnace). He buys a
bag of Tarallini
al Peperoncino for us, a crunchy Calabrian snack, made with flour,
white wine and -- peperoncino piccante. Those crispy rings are addictive
-- once opened, it's hard to put the bag away.
An
interesting day is coming to an end. We not only found the
peperoncini of Calabria, but also the wonderful people of this region
and their hospitality. We experienced their pride and enthusiasm in
growing those chiles and turning them into incredible spacialties. We
can't thank Morena, Raffaelo and Enzo enough.
The
day isn't over yet, that is. Tonight, we are going to see a very special
museum -- the Peperoncino Museum! We are going to report about that in
our next part - stay tuned!
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