Padrón peppers, also called Herbón peppers, are a

landrace A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolatio ...

variety of

peppers Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

(''Capsicum annuum'') from the municipality of Padrón in northwestern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Characteristics

Padrón peppers are small, about 2 inches (5 cm) long and have an elongated shape. They are often picked, sold and eaten unripe, when they are still green. The taste is mild, but some exemplars can be quite hot. This property has given rise to the popular Galician aphorism "''Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non''" ("Padrón peppers, some are hot, some are not"). Drought-stressed plants tend to produce hotter peppers. Like several other peppers, Padrón peppers become spicier as they mature. Their ripe colour is red.

Cultivation

The species

Capsicum annuum ''Capsicum annuum'' is a species of the plant genus ''Capsicum'' native to southern North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. This species is the most common and extensively cultivated of the five domesticated capsicums. The spec ...

is native to southern North America, the Caribbean, and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

where it was domesticated. The Padrón pepper variety originates from the municipality of Padrón in the province of

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Galicia, northwestern Spain.

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

law has protected the name "pemento de Herbón" as a protected designation of origin since 2010. Padrón peppers are now also grown elsewhere in the Mediterranean and in the United States. Padrón peppers are picked when immature and green.

Culinary preparation

Padrón peppers are customarily fried in olive oil until the skin starts to blister and the pepper collapses. In and around the town of Padrón, the stems are removed before frying. Removing the stems is recommended by major Galician pepper producers and the head of the Galician tourism association on the grounds that they cause bitterness in fried peppers. Elsewhere, the stems are generally left on the peppers, and the stems are used to hold the peppers while eating. Fried Padrón peppers are typically served hot with a dusting of coarse salt, sometimes accompanied by chunks of bread, as

tapas A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In so ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padron peppers Capsicum cultivars Chili peppers Galician cuisine Province of A Coruña Tapas

Characteristics

Cultivation

Culinary preparation

See also

References