Pepperoncini: Delicious

If you’re like me and you like things salty, spicy and pickled, you’re probably a fan of pepperoncini. Pepperoncini are those crinkly almost neon green peppers you find whole in Greek salads or as accouterments to Papa John’s pizzas. You can buy them sliced in jars and you can get them as a sandwich ingredient, at Subway for instance.

They range in color from yellow to green and in their raw state and eventually become red; however, they’re more often harvested before this change takes place. They also range from quite sweet to sort of spicy, and they’re fine to eat raw. But with their thin skins, bright color and distinct but easy-to-manipulate flavor profile, they really lend themselves to pickling. I love them. I wish they were in everything.

They’re not exactly haute cuisine, what with their direct correlation with Subway and Papa John’s (two “restaurants” I don’t really like), but they just taste good. I often joke my favorite flavor combination is salt and fat–bacon, potato chips, scallops wrapped in bacon, french fries, anything wrapped in bacon but it’s nice to have salty pickle-y foods to cut through that fat, to add a crispness, freshness and so on to these other rich foods.

Of course, they’re great on their own. Right out of the jar. They make your mouth pucker just a little and wake up with the addition of just enough heat. I love pepperoncini, and I think it’s time they were given their culinary due.

Erin Hollingsworth

(photo blog: cathepsut)

April 12th, 2009 by Food Guy | Posted in Italian Cuisine | (0)