Spicy peppers preserve

PAT - Traditional Agricultural Food Product

Place of Origin

Santa Maria di Leuca (Lecce)

 

The spicy peppers preserve is a typical of Puglia, particularly of Santa Maria di Leuca, located south of the province of Lecce.

It is a preserve with a spicy flavour made using sweet and spicy peppers, and a smaller proportion of local tomatoes. It is usually prepared between the months of September and October when the two products are ripe and can be harvested.

The peppers used for this preserve must be quite fleshy, ripe and red. The tomatoes must be of Fiaschetto type, produced locally, as their taste is sweet and savoury and combines well with the peppers.

 

For the preparation of this preserve you will need 70% of peppers and the remaining 30% of tomatoes.

Peppers and tomatoes should be washed, cleaned and the stalk eliminated.

They are then cooked together with salt and some water. When cooked they are passed through a food mill. The resulting sauce needs to dry in the sun, making sure it is protected with a mosquito net and removed before sunset every day.

Once dried, the preserve is placed in a clay pot and extra virgin olive oil added a bit at a time. The resulting product should be a thick and creamy sauce to store in airtight glass containers.

This preserve can be used for crostini, for filling sandwiches and piadine, as well as a starter and on top of small friselle.