A Pepper by Any Other Name...Azienda Agricola Vincenzo Egizio, Brusciano (Na)

Vincenzo Egizio

I guess you could say the motto of my visit to Brusciano that Saturday was everything you wanted to know about papaccella Neapolitan peppers but were afraid to ask...
But  i really wasn't...afraid to ask, I mean.
So when I called up Vincenzo Egizio, Azienda Agricola Vincenzo Egizio, one afternoon I shared with him my sudden can't wait until summer desire to learn about that Neapolitan prized pepper - the papaccella.  Sure it would have been nice to walk through the fields, see them.  But it was late February. The last papaccelle peppers were harvested several months ago - just before the first frost.

But my visit with Egizio, I believe, was timed just right,  considering that these Neapolitan peppers had recently (and finally) been recognized as part of the Slow Food Presidia brand.  These tiny peppers are NOT your typical bell peppers.  They are smaller, sweeter - perfect to conserve in a variety of ways.





I've been in this business for around 15 years, and over time we have organized a 'Vesuvian basket' where every product represents a producer.  These are mine.  Let's begin with the Neapolitan papacella.  Like wine, when we purchase a product, we need to know and understand where it comes from. We need to know the producers.  When we taste it, we can't tell if pesticides were used.  Looking at it, however, we can tell it it was grown in a green house or in an open field, if these was sun or bitter cold.  Even by its color we can tell if a large amount of fertilizer was used.  We can understand many things.  So that is why it is very important to know the producer.  How he/she works.  A perfect shiny papaccelle on the shelf may be appealing, but it may also be full of pesticides, etc.  The product must have flavor, but also needs to be good for you.  Even the terrain is important as well as the environment it grows in.  Alll of this contributes to the economic value of this product.  It is also imprtant where the product is grown.  Neapolitan papaccelle expresses itself best in Brusciano or the surrounding valleys such as Pomigliano.  I cannot grow the same product elsewhere  If I give these seeds to another producer, who may be better than I am, if the terrain is not the same, the plant will not be either.


So my next mission - to speak with Egizio about how he conserves the peppers.  Three ways; sweet and sour, marinated in vinegar, and grilled.
Each has its conservation process, each has its own type of dish to accompany it with.  Check out the video, and take a look at my paraphrased translation underneath.





The recipes are mine, prepared in the lab this way, with no conservatives or chemicals- just vinegar, salt, extra virgin olive oil and sugar.  Then pasteurized properly, obviously.  One type of conserving these peppers is the classic way- whole.  

The peppers are washed, then place in a jar with water and vinegar.  They can be used in the classic Neapolitan reinforcement salad or served with pork or cod.  

Another way to conserve them is the sweet and sour method.  Agrodolce.   

These pepper can be eaten straight from the jar though some chefs have used them in sauces.  This method takes up to 5 days.  The peppers are washed, sliced and seeded then placed in a container with vinegar, salt and sugar.  The peppers soaked for about 48 hours, turning every now and then.  During this process, the peppers release water but soak up sugar.  The peppers are then dried for about 2/3 days.  Then placed in jars with extra virgin olive oil.   

Grilled peppers are a little quicker to prepare.  This particular jar has green peppers, which have more acidity.  

Many green peppers are on the market becauase they are the ones harvested last.  The harvest season is from August to November, and during November, producers notice that the frost is about to arrive so they harvest the remaining plants on the vine - many green.  The grilled pepper process is as follows:  the peppers are slice then boiled in water and vinegar aith a certain percentage of salt.  They are then drained, grilled, then placed in jars with parsley, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.  A perfect side dish.

So, it didn't matter that I didn't get a chance to walk the fields with Egizio in the height of the summer harvest season.  That will come later, for sure.  Because I first would like to hang out with him as he plants the seeds - very very soon.