Re: [CH] peppadew

Sue Callaghan (scallagh@african-life.co.za)
Tue, 28 Jan 2003 10:39:46 +0200 

Hi all,
As Fred the habaneronut said.. "I'm sure our SA Chilehead on the list can
tell you more than you ever wanted to know about peppadews."
Here is some info gleaned from a 1999 issue of the Sunday Times: 

A winner of a weed
Peppadews, the hottest thing in fruit since kiwis, are an all-South African
discovery. 
JOHAN Steenkamp, a tomato farmer in the Northern Province, made the
discovery of a lifetime five years ago when he noticed a plant he'd never
seen before growing prolifically in a hot, dry corner of his garden.
Instead of pulling it out as some strange weed, he studied the plant and
eventually, with much trepidation, decided to taste it. Hot as Hades, his
new find set his mouth on fire, but it didn't kill him, or even make him
sick. Surely this was a sign of great things to come. 
Steenkamp began patiently experimenting with the bright red fruit, skinning,
cooking and bottling it. The results were disastrous, for not only did the
fruit explode during cooking, it exploded in the bottle, laying waste to R50
000 in hard-earned money. But, stubborn as a Blue Bull, Steenkamp didn't
give up. So He contacted the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,
which painstakingly scoured for information on the plant. A DNA analysis
proved it was a member of the capsicum family, probably indigenous to
Central or South America, as are other peppers and chillies. But this
particular one wasn't known - or commercially grown - anywhere else. 
Finally, Steenkamp hit on the perfect process to transform the fiery fruit
into a delicious and versatile money-spinner. Using a unique method, for
which he holds the patent, the fruit is deseeded to lower the Scoville
rating to a tolerable level (Scovilles are the unit of measurement used to
rank the heat of a chilli) and then bottled whole in sweet brine. 
Steenkamp christened his 1,5m-high discovery the "piquant plant" and its
plump, red, processed fruit the "peppadew" ("peppa" denoting bite, "dew"
freshness).
Nature isn't stupid, which is why self-seeding plants, especially alien
species, grow where they'll thrive best. Steenkamp noticed that his plants
thrived in hot, dry, semi-desert conditions with controlled irrigation. He
also found them to be cost-effective, with a single plant producing around
15kg of fruit over a four-month period. And because the fruit ripens from
ground level upwards, each plant is picked several times in the four months.


-snip-

To read the rest, click here:
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/06/13/lifestyle/life08.htm

Cheers from Sue in Sunny South Africa (where we have finally had some heat
reducing rain)