Mini-grilled cheese sandwiches on toasted baguette slices with Peppadews are our favorite new snack. Photos courtesy Peppadew USA.
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KAREN HOCHMAN is a Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
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August 2006
Updated December 2009
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Peppy Peppadew Peppers
What’s A Peppadew? A New Savory Fruit From Africa
CAPSULE REPORT: We have been enjoying sweet-and-tangy Peppadew “peppers” since they made their debut here in 2002, touted as “the first truly new fruit to be launched on the world market since the kiwi 26 years ago.” We don’t care if people have been eating it for eons: we really like it! It’s a fusion of roasted red peppers and crunchy sweet gherkins (read: sugar). A versatile snack, the bright red color is terrific as a garnish and hors d’oeuvre base that seems to fit in at every meal of the day. The products are kosher-certified by OU. This is Page 1 of a two-page article. Click on the black links below to visit Page 2.
Peppadew Overview
The story of peppadew sweet and spicy fruit is not a long one. A few short years ago, the story goes, a businessman farmer spotted an unusual-looking bush in the garden of his vacation home in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Standing shoulder-high, it was laden with small bright red fruit which looked like something between miniature red peppers and cherry tomatoes. He bit into one and discovered a mixture  of peppery and sweet tastes, with a distinctive flavor. Believing that he had discovered something new, he saved seeds from the mother plant, cultivated seedlings and then developed the recipe with which to process the fruit for commercial sale (using a brine of sugar and vinegar). He named the fruit Peppadew because as it peppery but also “as sweet as the dew.”
The peppadew has a sweet-and-sour aroma that carries through on the palate. Sweet, sharp, savory and spicy flavors with a hot back note. It is made in both mild and hot varieties. Both have the crisp texture of the more familiar hot peppers, but with a totally different flavor profile (the seeds are removed, for one thing).
Peppadews are, in fact, peppers—the company calls them “sweet piquanté peppers in a sweet/sour brine solution.” Peppers are a fruit—a fruit is defined as a vegetable that holds its seeds internally (avocados and cucumbers are fruits too, as are all of the chili peppers). The particular species of pepper is believed to be a native of Central America but where this particular bush came is a mystery. Whatever its origins, no one looks a gift horse—or a gift bush—in the mouth: the peppadew has turned into the tastiest and most versatile flavor accent since the gherkin.
Peppadew Recipes & Serving Suggestions
Garnishes
- Omelets and scrambled eggs
- Sandwiches and burgers
- Pizza, and pasta
- Chicken and seafood
- Potatoes, rice and other
vegetable dishes
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Cheese and vegetable-stuffed peppadews. |
Quick Hors D’Oeuvres
- Add to cocktail picks with feta cheese, gherkins, cocktail onions, pineapple cubes, bacon rolls or mushrooms
- Stuff with cream cheese, seasoned yogurt, any dip mixture, any sandwich salad (tuna, shrimp, chicken, egg), salmon or trout paté, rice salad, guacamole
Garnishes
- Omelets and scrambled eggs
- Sandwiches and burgers
- Pizza, and pasta
- Chicken and seafood
- Potatoes, rice and other
vegetable dishes
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Pizza topped with chopped peppadew. |
Love Bites Recipe
Ingredients
- 5-1/4 oz Boursin cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon crème fraîche
- 9 whole Peppadew Sweet
Piquanté Peppers
- 3 slices of lemon
- 1 avocado sliced
Instructions |
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Cheese-stuffed peppadew. |
- Mix the cream cheese and the crème fraîche together thoroughly
- Place the mixture in an icing bag to stuff the peppers.
- Serve with a twist of lemon and sliced avocado
- Then drizzle with a little Peppadew Sweet Piquanté Pepper Juice for a delicious
starter.
- Serves 3 with three peppers apiece.
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