Piparras

Ingredients

Peppers

• 800 gyoung guindilla peppers, pale green and slender

Pickle

• 600 mlwhite wine vinegar
• 200 mlwater
• 2 tbspsalt
• 1 tspsugar
• 2 clovesgarlic, optional

Directions

1. Pick or buy the peppers young, while they are pale green and slender. Left on the plant they redden and turn hot, and piparras are meant to be mild — that mildness is the whole character.
2. Wash them and trim the stems to about 1 cm, leaving them attached. The stem is how they are picked up and eaten, so it stays on.
3. Prick each pepper once or twice with a needle near the stem end. Unpricked, the pickle never gets inside and they float and stay raw.
4. Bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil, stirring until dissolved, then simmer two minutes.
5. Pack the peppers into sterilised jars, all facing the same way with the stems up, which is how they are sold and makes them easy to lift out.
6. Pour over the boiling pickle to cover, adding the garlic if using, and seal at once.
7. Leave three weeks before opening. They keep a year unopened; refrigerate once opened.
8. Serve as a pintxo — three on a skewer with an anchovy and an olive makes a Gilda — or alongside grilled meat and tortilla.

Technique

• Young pale peppers only. A red guindilla is a different, hotter thing.
• Prick them, or they stay raw inside and bob to the surface.
• The stems stay on. They are the handle.

Substitutions

• Any slim mild green chilli, though Ibarra guindillas are the protected original.
• Cider vinegar for white wine vinegar.

Variations

• The Gilda pintxo — piparra, anchovy and olive on a stick — is named after the Rita Hayworth film.
• Fried whole in olive oil and salted, which is done with the fresh peppers rather than the pickled ones.

History

Guindilla peppers of Ibarra in Gipuzkoa, hand-picked young and bottled each summer under a protected label.

Frequently asked questions

What is Piparras?

Piparras is a fermented & pickled from Spain: slim pale Basque chillies pickled in vinegar, mild and tangy with pintxos. Guindilla peppers of Ibarra in Gipuzkoa, hand-picked young and bottled each summer under a protected label.

How long does Piparras take to make?

Piparras takes 30 min plus 3 weeks of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes fills 2 × 500 ml jars. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Piparras?

Yes, within limits. Any slim mild green chilli, though Ibarra guindillas are the protected original. Cider vinegar for white wine vinegar.

What is the most important thing to get right in Piparras?

Pick or buy the peppers young, while they are pale green and slender. Left on the plant they redden and turn hot, and piparras are meant to be mild — that mildness is the whole character.