Born on the American continent and cultivated for generations by monks on the peninsula, the choricero pepper gives us bucolic images hanging in strings in the villages of the north while it brightens up legumes, fish, and rice dishes with its sweet taste and spicy touch, which is why in the past it came to replace pepper. Today, we delve into its history, its properties, the differences with the ñora pepper, and all the recipes that enhance its flavour.
What is choricero pepper?
The choricero pepper is a variety of red pepper ( Capsicum annuum ) that is very important in Basque, Riojan, and Navarrese cuisine. Strings or ropes of dried peppers hanging on facades are part of the landscape and the use of their flesh extends to stews, casseroles, and sauces, in recipes as renowned as marmitako or salsa a la vizcaína.
It is not surprising that it is also known as the Gernika pepper. Both are the same variety of pepper, the difference is that the Gernika pepper is eaten green and fried, while the choricero pepper is the red version harvested at the end of summer.
The chorizo pepper bush grows up to 80 cm in height and prefers sunny and slightly humid spaces, although it is not a faithful friend of rain, which is why it is commonly grown protected in greenhouses in northern Spain. Once harvested, the pepper is dried in the sun without humidity, in strings that traditionally hang from balconies, which give rise to the dehydrated version that allows it to be preserved for up to a year. When using it, a couple of hours submerged in water are enough to rehydrate it and obtain its pulp, which is also a fundamental ingredient of chorizo.
This speciality has an Italian counterpart known as peperone crusco, which means “crunchy pepper” in English. The region par excellence for peperone crusco is Basilicata and its pepper with protected geographical indication of Senise. Dried and crunchy, it is used to prepare a spice known as zafaran psat, due to its similarity to saffron. Much closer is Espelette, a small town in the French Basque Country that is awash like a summer postcard with hundreds of strings of choricero peppers at the end of August. The Espelette pepper has a designation of origin and preserves the historical use of pepper as a substitute for pepper.
Why is it called choricero pepper?
Chorizo is the reason why the choricero pepper has this name. Until Columbus’ return from America, chorizo was a whitish preparation, which was made with the sole purpose of preserving the pork obtained in the November slaughterhouses for longer.
The arrival of the pepper made it possible to turn chorizo into the reddish sausage with a penetrating, buttery and spicy flavour that we know today. The fact that only the pulp of the choricero pepper variety was used to make chorizo gave rise to it being baptised forever as the choricero pepper, a name that also differentiates it from other types of pepper intended for fresh consumption.
Origin and history of the choricero pepper
The choricero pepper is a variety derived from the common pepper that arrived on the Peninsula after the discovery of the American continent, which represented the window open to potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, chili peppers and peppers, the latter being the direct ancestors of the choricero pepper.
Among the samples brought back by Columbus, the chilli peppers were especially well received and cultivated by the order of the Hieronymite monks who had an extensive network of monasteries throughout Spain where they grew their own vegetables and fruit. According to the work of Bartolomé, Coleto and Velázquez on agriculture, the first monastery where the pepper arrived was the monastery of Yuste in Extremadura, later in the monastery of Ñora in Murcia, La Rioja, Andalusia and thus it spread throughout the rest of Spain.
The cultivation of chilli gave way to different varieties, becoming the choricero pepper in the Basque Country or the famous Murcian ñora. Its success was based not only on its gastronomic and medicinal properties, but also on its quality as a substitute for pepper, the spicy grain from the Indies whose price was much more expensive. A formula that ensured the interest in the cultivation of pepper and its spiciest varieties.
Nutritional value of choricero pepper
The choricero pepper shares a good amount of vitamins with the common pepper, presenting a high content of vitamin C, being rich in vitamin A, vitamin E, and folic acid. In addition, it is low in carbohydrates and fats and has the presence of beta-carotenes, responsible for its color and antioxidant power. Although it is not always easy to find its values in the fresh version, below we collect the values for the flesh of the canned choricero pepper, which, as always, is a version that has a lower percentage of vitamins and minerals due to the preservation process.
- Energy: 157 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Of which sugars: 2.2 g
- Fats: 1 g
- Of which saturated: 0.3 g
- Protein: 1.5 g
- Salt: 0.04 g
Properties and benefits of choricero pepper
Thanks to its contribution of vitamins and capsaicin, the molecule responsible for its spicy touch, the choricero pepper is a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and even an ally in the prevention of obesity. It helps keep the immune system strong, promotes cardiovascular health and is also satiating, which is why many people include it in their dishes in weight loss diets. Below is a compilation of its properties.
Antioxidant
Peppers contain a large amount of vitamins, such as vitamin C, which has antioxidant properties . This protective role reduces the amount of free radicals, acting as an anti-aging factor by helping to keep the body young.
Firm skin and healthy tendons
Vitamin C has the function of repairing tissues, promoting healing and is essential for the production of collagen , a protein necessary not only for tendons, ligaments and blood vessels but also for maintaining firm and strong skin. Choricero pepper contains high amounts of vitamin C making it ideal for a healthy body and firm appearance.
Healthy heart, vision, and strong immune system
The choricero pepper also has good amounts of vitamin A, which helps the heart function properly and stimulates the synthesis of lymphocytes, white cells with a defensive function against pathogens. In addition, vitamin A is essential for regulating the amount of light received by our eyes and creates photoreceptors that maintain healthy vision.
Anti-inflammatory potential
Yellow, orange and red are the colours that reveal beta-carotene. The choricero pepper, which stands out for its strong reddish hue, has a high content of this organic compound, which gives it greater antioxidant power, an anti-inflammatory role and also a protective role for the skin against UVA rays.
Prevents obesity and hypertension
The capsaicin content in the choricero pepper gives it antihypertensive properties due to its vasodilatory action and is also associated with the prevention of obesity since capsaicin influences lipid oxidation, that is, it contributes to preventing us from accumulating more fat in adipose tissue and, on the other hand, its intake decreases appetite.
Contraindications of choricero pepper
People who are allergic to peppers or suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or gastric ailments should not consume choricero peppers, for whom they may find them bothersome due to their capsaicin content, which can cause pain and diarrhea. Beyond these scenarios, it is a nutritionally interesting food and of great gastronomical interest.
What is the difference between choricero pepper and ñora pepper?
The choricero pepper and the ñora pepper are both varieties of the red pepper ( Capsicum annuum ), although they have different appearances, flavours and cultivation origins. The choricero pepper is elongated, with a thick, wrinkled skin due to dehydration, and has a sweet flavour with a subtly bitter and spicy touch. It is considered a fundamental ingredient in various cuisines in the north of Spain, notable for its widespread use in Basque cuisine.
The ñora, on the other hand, is a variety of round, sweet red pepper, also native to the American continent, which was first cultivated in the Monastery of Ñora, in Murcia. From there it spread throughout the Levant, Murcia, Alicante, and Catalonia, where it is a famous ingredient for its use in rice and paellas. In common, the ñora and the choricero pepper have the process of drying in the sun and the use of their pulp once rehydrated.
How to choose, dry, preserve and rehydrate a choricero pepper
The choricero pepper is chosen based on its colour. The red hue without a trace of the green of Gernika indicates that it is ready to be harvested. And now it can be dehydrated, which, by tradition, is done in the form of a string and hanging under the sun for approximately a month.
Once dried and with wrinkled skin, we have up to a year to consume it, with the only requirement being to hydrate it beforehand, which can be done in just two steps to obtain the aromatic, juicy pulp with all the flavor for stews and casseroles.
To do this, we remove the stem and cut each piece in half to remove the seeds first. Next, we soak the pieces in warm water for an average of four hours to rehydrate the flesh as much as possible. Finally, we separate the pulp from the skin, carefully scraping the surface with a non-serrated knife or a spoon.
The paste can be preserved in glass and oil, or crushed and frozen if we want to have it available for more than two or three days, during which time it retains all its flavour.
Recipes with choricero pepper and uses in cooking
The choricero pepper accompanies the sea in recipes such as cod ajoarriero with a sofrito made from garlic, onion, tomato sauce, and choricero pepper pulp. It is similarly used in cod a la riojana and cod a la vizcaína. And when bonito enters the same kitchen as the choricero pepper, we have the opportunity to prepare marmitako, a slow-cooked seafood stew. It is also present in many seafood stews and rice dishes with octopus or lobster.
On land, the choricero pepper intensifies the flavour of beans with chorizo and snails a la montañesa . It is commonly used in chicken and lamb al chilindrón, with its pepper-based sauce. In potatoes from La Rioja, made from potatoes, garlic, onion, chorizo, and bay leaves, the choricero pepper intensifies each bite. Sometimes, it can even replace pepper when preparing a good Canarian salmorejo and it is without a doubt the star of the Vizcaína sauce where some bread, condiments, and white wine act as a vehicle for the meat of the choricero pepper. A complete land and sea menu accentuated by the sweet and slightly spicy touch of the choricero pepper.
What is choricero pepper meat?
The meat of the choricero pepper that we can easily find packaged in preserves is nothing more and nothing less than the pulp of the hydrated pepper. It is obtained by scraping the skin of the pepper once it has been soaked in water and has returned to its usual fleshiness. The most common way to find it is in preserves so that its shelf life is extended beyond two or three days. In any form, the meat obtained at home from the rehydrated pepper can be ground and frozen to be used at any time of the year.