Peppadew Pictured with Olives
Doesn’t it feel great to stumble across an undiscovered corner of a place you thought you knew inside out? (Like when you find a hidden closet in the basement storage room or attic.) It’s such a “wow — neat!” moment.
I had one of those unexpected moments when I recently thought to troll through the olive bar at my favorite produce market. Actually, it was the cheesemonger’s idea — “You might find some nice olives to go with that Cabrales!”
Not needing a second prompting, I boldly ventured into why-didn’t-I-notice-this-before? territory. As I browsed through the olives bar, to my delight, I came across bulbous little peppers called peppadews nestled amidst the Gordal Queen olives and 99-cent jumbo pickles. Well, that’s interesting, I thought. They were the cutest peppers I’d ever seen.
Upon being faced with an unknown (to me) edible, my first instinct is to eat it, culinary caution be damned! Most of the time, this is a sound strategy, because the vast majority of foods are at least interesting if not great. Granted, on rare occasions, my curiosity quickly morphs into a satisfaction that I have learned two things: how the food in question tastes and that I won’t be eating it again. (Such as the natto sushi I tried last night. It’s just something about those fermented beans that have enough mucilage to string out across the length of my living room … ugh. But I’m sure there are some nifty industrial applications for string-able foods.)
Happily, the peppadew peppers were a pleasant discovery. They’re sweet yet hot, and fortunately for my impromptu cheese plate, they’re a wonderful accompaniment to cheese and olives. It turns out their signature taste is due to both the fruit itself — a type of chili pepper that grows in the Limpopo province of South Africa — and to the way it’s brined and bottled. Depending on whether or not the process includes de-seeding the peppers, some peppadews are spicier than others; depending on when they’re picked, some are red and some are golden. They’re the latest and greatest fruit-known-as-a-vegetable to hit plates in the U.S. and abroad, and their production is a tightly-controlled, boutique industry. (“Peppa” + “dew” is actually a trademarked name that combines the idea of spicy peppers with sweet dew.)
If you’re fortunate enough to find a peppadew or two, use them as you would roasted peppers, and especially use them when you’d like a sweet-hot kick: with cheese, in omelettes, woven into kebab skewers, in sandwiches/wraps, tossed with salads, incorporated into pilafs and pasta dishes, etc. Their vibrant red hue and slight crunchiness make them a welcome addition to nearly any plate!
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Tags: chili pepper, exotic fruit, peppadew, south africa
