[CH] fw: pimiento de Padron

raincrone@juno.com
Wed, 30 May 2001 02:28:10 -0400 

Anybody know anything more about these?  Got a seed source?
    
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> Pimientos de Padrón are pick of the crop
> BY CAROLYN JUNG, San Jose Mercury News
> 
> At Happy Quail Farms, David Winsberg grows 30 >varieties of peppers in 
seven sprawling back yards >in East Palo Alto.
> 
> Red, heart-shaped ones perfect for roasting. >Creamy white Hungarian 
ones ripe for pickling or >stuffing. Opulent purple ones that dazzle  in
salads.
> And Dutch ones, super sweet and juicy, with the >haunting  hue of
bittersweet chocolate.
> 
> But there is one pepper above all others that has >stirred quite a 
fuss. Enough to make food writers >come calling. Enough to pique  Martha
Stewart's >interest. Enough to prompt renowned essayist Calvin 
> Trillin to rhapsodize about his quest to find these >Spanish peppers 
somewhere, anywhere, in the >United States.
> 
> The _pimiento de Padrón_.
> 
> Winsberg, whose peppers can be found only at >restaurants and farmers'
markets, may well be the >only farmer growing them for sale in 
California.
> 
> Skinny, dark green, and about as long as your >thumb, pimientos de 
Padrón don't look like anything >special at first glance. But sauteed or
fried in olive oil >and sprinkled with coarse salt, they are 
> absolutely addicting. Think of the grassy taste of a >green bell 
pepper, but these are sweeter and far >more tender.
>
 >Adding to their mystique is the surprise they pack: >One in every  five
or so possesses a spicy wallop, >some just a tad tongue-tickling,  others
[hotter] 
>than a jalapeño. Generally, the hot ones all 
> come from the same plant. Still, there's no >guarantee that  replanting
the seeds from an >all-sweet pimiento de Padrón plant will yield
>all-mellow offspring in the future.
> 
> And even though the women of Padrón claim they >can distinguish the 
hot ones from the sweet ones by >touch, and some folks swear the  larger
ones are the >culprits, Winsberg is convinced you just can't  tell >until
biting into one.
> 
> One of the oldest non-hybrid peppers around, they >were supposedly 
brought back from the New World >to Spain by Columbus. They are named 
for the town >of Padrón in the cool Galicia region of northwest 
> Spain,  where the treasured delicacy is harvested >only in summer
[ed.--well, when else? :)], then >eaten  by the plateful in tapas bars.
> 
> Winsberg, 46, laughs when he remembers that he >didn't quite know what
he had on his hands when a >friend of a friend brought him some seeds 
> from Spain and he grew his first crop in 1998.
> 
> "I wasn't that impressed when I first tried one of >the peppers [raw].
I  wasn't even sure how to cook >them,'' he admits. ``I learned the trick

> is to fry them for only 30 seconds to keep them >bright green but a 
little blistered. . . The frying just >intensifies the flavor.''
> 
> That's the simple, traditional way they're featured >at Spanish 
restaurants, like César in Berkeley and >Picasso's in San Jose, each  of
which bought 20 to 30 >pounds a week last summer from Winsberg. >Although
some diners initially weren't sure what to >make of the small peppers,
all it took was one taste >to make them believers, says Julio Garcia,
owner of >Picasso's.
> 
> "They're to die for," says Garcia, who's also eaten >his share of  them
in Spain. ``They're so unique. >They really provoke an  appetite.''

Rain
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