The Altino Sweet Pepper

Small, horn-shaped, deep red, pointing upwards: “a cocce capammonte”. It is air-dried, toasted and crushed in a mortar called a “penele”.

The story

The peppers typical of the area are small in size, horn-shaped, of a deep red, called in the local dialect “a cocce capammonte” — head up — precisely because the fruit points towards the sky.

This spice is used in a great variety of dishes: from starters to first and main courses, and in the recipe “pizze e foje”. It is a main element in the seasoning of various cured meats and of ventricina. The powder obtained from it can be used to dress pasta, to make cured meats or as an ingredient in the making of bread and of different kinds of pasta, giving these foods a red colour.

Where it comes from

The origin of this pepper is tied to the discovery of the Americas and the spread of the plant in Italy, but perhaps also to eastern Europe and the introduction of paprika from the Balkans by Slav populations who settled in the province of Chieti in the 15th century.

The serta

Once ripe, the peppers are picked and then threaded through the stalk with a needle and thick thread. In this way a long necklace is made, called a “crollo” or a “serta”. They are left to dry in the open air for several days and then, once every trace of moisture has gone, they are toasted in the oven and crushed with a particular mortar, known locally as a “penele”.

The varieties

• Cazzuttile: a pepper with rounded fruit. It was once used to flavour the sun-dried tomato preserve made with the local Tramongelle variety, not large but of excellent flavour.
• Pane: a variety marked by larger fruit, with four swellings at the tip. It lends itself to being roasted over charcoal or grilled.
• Corne di toro: a rather large fruit, long in shape and narrowing towards the tip. It is sought after for roasting over charcoal.