Not only the green, yellow and red color: the shape, the taste and the preservation methods are also changing. From the Lucanian bell peppers to the Neapolitan papacelle up to the Piedmontese variants, a small journey into the summer treasures of our territory
We will also be back from holiday but in front of us we have another month of summer. And so the kingdom of gods still shines in the kitchen pepperoni. Together with tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines, he is the real summer vegetable, to be eaten raw or cooked, stuffed or grilled. But what are the main types of peppers in circulation and which Italian peppers exist?
Yellow, red and green peppers: different twins
The first difference concerns the colors: red, yellow and green. The Red pepper it has a crisp and firm flesh and a strong flavor, ideal for preparing bruschetta or side dishes. what yellow it is more meaty and juicy, with a sweeter taste and greater tenderness: perfect for sweet and sour peppers or for chicken with peppers. The peppers greens they are nothing but the specimens not yet fully developed of the red and yellow variants. The slightly sour taste makes it perfect for salads, even raw.
Horns and more
Among the most valuable variants of our country is the pepper of Pontecorvo Dop, shaped like a horn and the red and thin skin, known since the beginning of the 1800s. Or the Lucan pepper of Senise IGP, also red and horn-shaped, used since the sixteenth century for the production of the famous bran peppers: ie dried in the sun and then eaten fried in extra virgin olive oil. Note that the pepper plant, Capsicum annuum, is the same as almost all chili Peppers, from which they are distinguished only by the shape and the sweet rather than spicy taste. Also of great quality red Nocera pepper, among the most tasty large types.
Peppers: surprises between Asti and Cuneo
It is distinguished by the flattened shape instead of the Pat. Cuneo pepper, with a flesh that is firm, fleshy, crisp, consistent, with a thickness of about 10 mm. Features very similar also to the square of Asti. Unsuspected land of peppers, Piedmont, thanks to the torrid summers that these plants suffer much less than the tomato. Testimony is also the Carmagnola pepper, in turn divided into four types: the square of Carmagnola, yellow or red, suitable to be eaten raw, stuffed or baked; the long or ox horn (yellow or red), ideal for peperonata and preserves thanks to the compact pulp; there spinning top (yellow or red), with the characteristic flattened shape; and the tomaticot (yellow or red), a roundish hybrid with a tomato-like shape, perfect for appetizers but also for bagna cauda and as a side dish for boiled meats. Instead it represents a real treat Capriglio pepper, in Monferrato, selected and cultivated for over two centuries and handed down from generation to generation by local farmers. Like other varieties of peppers grown in the Asti area, it is a natural cross between ancient small cultivars and larger ones from the Cuneo area. It is distinguished by a delicately sweet taste as well as a thick and fleshy skin that makes it particularly suitable for preservation, traditionally under pomace.
Neapolitan triumphs
In short, a real connoisseur's stuff, like the Neapolitan papacella, pepper with small crushed and ribbed berries, very fleshy and with a strong flavor, ideal for traditional Neapolitan pickled preparations. The reason? The sweetness of its pulp, perfect ingredient of the famous ones reinforcement salads Christmas, to say nothing of the e mbuttunate papaccelle. The name probably derives from the gardens of the Nolanum where papaccella (le parule) was once cultivated, which were found in particular in the vicinity of Brusciano, where many inhabitants have the surname "Papaccio". Last chapter of the saga of the Italian pepper? We stay in Campania with i friggitelli (or friarelli or puparuoli friarelli or chilli peppers). For which, given their goodness, we should open a separate chapter …
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