Tag: gastronomy

Red Design of Hot Calabrian Peppers

11.02.2020

If you want to know the true colors and appreciate the Authentic Mediterranean Food, you have to discover the natural design and taste of Hot Red Chili Peppers from Calabria.

This intense red color can be found in Calabria, a fertile land, ingenious, rich, ravished by the scent of pines, of white firs and of sea weeds, friendly, but where nature often seems to challenge man with its wild contrasts between mountain and marine environment.

Its natural beauties of great value blend with typical specialities and here ‘Its Majesty’, Calabrian Hot Chili pepper, is palatable and enhances the most simple flavours, playing the role of lord and master.

These hot chili peppers are native to Calabria, Italy, in the southern part of the country. Calabrian chili peppers are considered the “classic” Italian hot pepper. The region of Calabria, Italy, is in the southern part of the country, in the “toe” of the boot.

Calabrian Chili Peppers are members of the nightshade botanic family, also related to tomatoes and to eggplants. The Mediterranean climate is ideal for these small, round, fruity and spicy peppers.

COLORS AND NUTRITIONAL FEATURES

The only thing bolder than their flavor is their rich red color. These Hot peppers has all varieties: small, big, spicy, fruity, smoky, sweet and salty.

Calabrian chili peppers, like other members of “Capsicum annuum” contain high amounts of vitamin C, higher than citrus.

Chili peppers also contain

  • vitamins A and B-6,
  • potassium,
  • iron and
  • magnesium.

The spicier hot peppers contain capsaicin, which has been shown to help stimulate the circulatory and digestive systems. Capsaicin is also researched for its potential as a cancer fighting drug.

THE SHAPE

Calabrian chili peppers are generally round, with a bulbous shape, approximately the size of a large cherry. They mature to a bright, glossy red and have a short, squat stem.

Calabrian chili peppers are available late summer through fall. During these seasons, Calabrian chili peppers develop the best spice and smoky fruit notes, when left to age and picked when they start to show a slightly red exterior.

They are considered a medium spicy chili pepper, ranging from 25,000 to 40,000 “Scoville” units (the measure unit of spicy taste).

The Calabrian chili pepper is a variety of Capsicum annuum native to Calabria, Italy and often found

  • dried,
  • pickled
  • or stuffed and packed in olive oil.

It is a common component to all classic Italian antipasto platters. The small pepper is often referred to as the:

  • Hot Calabrian chili pepper, small red cherry, and
  • “Devil’s Kiss”.

Both they are the best known hot pepper in Italy. The preferred name in Italian is “Peperoncino Piccante Calabrese“, which translates the usual expression ‘Hot spicy pepper of Calabria’.

THE HISTORY

Very few people knows that Pepper varieties of Capsicum annuum originated in what is now Central and South America and the Caribbean, or what Christopher Columbus referred to as the “West Indies.”

It was Columbus, who brought the first peppers back from his travels, thinking they were related to black pepper, or Piper nigrum, one of the most coveted spices from the Indies.

Afterwards, from Spain and Portugal, varieties of Capsicum annuum spread across the Mediterranean (also Calabria) and across the Arabian Peninsula to India and then into China.RECIPES

A particular recipe is that of Hot Calabrian chili peppers traditionally stuffed with chunks of tuna and kept in jars of olive oil. These small, but spicy peppers are good for stuffing. The cooking will mellow the spicy taste, but the flavor of the pepper will enhance the internal stuffing of meats, anchovies and capers, or cheeses.

In Calabria, these small, round, spicy peppers are also stuffed with a mix of local tuna and bread crumbs, into jars of olive oil to preserve them. The peppers are packaged and sold online and at Italian specialty stores.

Calabrian chili peppers can also be pickled in a vinegar brine.

Here three simple recipes:
1. Remove the stem and top, scooping the seeds out with a spoon, then slice Calabrian chili peppers and sauté for topping burgers or steaks.
2. Chop Calabrian chili peppers and toss with spinach or broccoli and garlic for a quick sauté.
3. Use Calabrian chili peppers as a primary ingredient in “Pasta all’arrabbiata”, a dish of pasta with tomato sausage, rich of spicy peppers seeds.

A Wine from the Past: Verbicaro

20.1.2020

THE PAST OF VERBICARO’S VINEYARDS

gastronomy includes many Mediterranean wines, but no one is so full of history and local culture like “Verbicaro”, a protected denomination (“DOC”), a wine produced in a region comprised between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Pollino Massif.

Plentiful historical evidence shows that the ancient Romans produced there this nectar, letting ferment and age the grapes in the semidarkness of the “catuvi,” the local cellars. Precisely, in the more ancient past, grapes were taken on the back of mules to the so-called “parmienti” (in Italian “palmenti”) where barefoot peasants pressed and crushed the grapes and put the must in barrels inside Catuvi.

THE LAND OF VINEYARDS

“Verbicaro”, protected denomination (“DOC”), is a wine produced in a region comprised between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Pollino Massif. These lands, full of vineyards, are key factors in creating a viticulturally suitable mesoclimate for “Verbicaro”. The area of Verbicaro is a sub-region of Cosenza and it is DOC (so called “Terre di Cosenza” DOC) like the other local wines Donnici, Pollino and San Vito di Luzzi.

The topography of the land helps channeling wind and waters down the valleys and through the vineyards. The reliable air movement provides a stable environment, while the sea waters, surrounding the Calabrian peninsula, moderate the intense heat of south Italian summer.

Effectively, the Verbicaro area is small, between the Savuto and Lamezia zones (it is the coastal hills of the ‘Riviera dei Cedri’ and beside the River Lao, where this fruity ruby red wine is ideal with red meats and spicy food), but this wine blends and concentrates a large number of grapes, including Gaglioppo, Greco Nero, Greco Bianco and Malvasia Bianca. Therefore, it represents well all the scents, flavours and fragrances of an authentic Mediterranean cuisine.

THE PEOPLE OF VINEYARDS

The wine reflects something of the people and the local history of the village called “Verbicaro”.

This small town is surrounded by the hills of a cavernous valley and by mountains on either side, is 400 meters above the Tyrrhenian coast and offers a magnific view of the Calabrian hinterland and seascape below.

The history of local people recalls the ancient foundation by a pre-Roman, nomadic tribe, then Verbicaro has been conquered by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Barbarians, Spanish and French.

But the winemaking survived to these different cultures.  The wine made by the grapes harvested in Verbicaro’s vineyards has been enjoyed since Roman times, and today experts considers that wine even the Calabria’s best wine.

Tables about the three (3) known Verbicaro wines

  1. “Verbicaro Bianco” is white and sparkling. Alcohol: 10.5%, straw yellow, soft, distinctive, dry, sometimes aromatic.  Its grapes are Greco Bianco, Guarnaccia, Malvasia Bianca.
  2. “Verbicaro Rosso” is red and sparkling. Alcohol: 12.0%, ruby red, winey, soft, distinctive, dry, sometimes slightly aromatic. Its grapes are Gaglioppo, Greco Bianco, Greco Nero, Guarnaccia, Malvasia Bianca.
  3. “Verbicaro Rosato” is red and sparkling. Alcohol: 10.5%, pink more or less intense, soft, distinctive, dry. Its grapes are Gaglioppo, Greco Bianco, Greco Nero, Guarnaccia, Malvasia Bianca.

SMAF LTD

Explore our products, coming from CALABRIA. Order the food and beverage products that allow you to explore the Mediterranean diet of a remarkable region. Surrounded by two seas and adorned with pine forests, mysterious villages, natural habitats, and rich biodiversity. Discover handcrafted delicacies that embody the soul of the land: sun-ripened fruits, premium olive oils, bold wines, artisanal cheeses, and traditional cured meats, all crafted with passion and authenticity.

contact us, your supplier