Fun & Tasty Little Snack Peppers
Padrón Peppers (Pimientos de Padrón)
These little Spanish peppers are usually fried in oil, salted and served as tapas. I first tried them in a restaurant and soon began a search for seed. They are easy to find in many seed catalogs.
Padrón Peppers are picked when about 1 1/2″ long.
They are cone-shaped and picked when very small, at about 1″ or 1 1/2″ long. They are pictured here with medium-sized red bell peppers for size comparison.
Playing with your food
Eating these snack peppers is a great garden party game. It’s “Spanish roulette,” nine out of ten peppers are mildly flavored. One in ten is a taste explosion in you mouth.
Size is not an indicator of heat.
You won’t know until you eat the pepper whether it is hot or mild. The look or size of the Padrón peppers offer no clues. The weather or time of the growing season is not a heat indicator.
I grew Padrón peppers on the deck in 5-gallon buckets and in the garden along side other hot and sweet peppers. Next year, I’ll grow more plants because I love the taste of these tiny peppers.
recipe
Blistered Padrón Peppers
1/2 pound of Padrón peppers
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Course sea salt
Heat a large skillet over high heat, add oil. Add peppers to the hot oil, tossing to stir. Cook for about 3 or 4 minutes or, until skins are blistered and peppers are softened. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with salt, and toss to coat.
Sizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with salt, the flavor of these delicious peppers is down right tasty. Course salt will add not only flavor but also some texture to this simple summer appetizer.
Padrón Peppers (Pimientos de Padrón) Ready to serve in 4 minutes.
