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La Ferme Nahia - Espelette Pepper Powder - 45 g
Regular price $18.50 USDRegular price
About La Ferme Nahia
- Based in
- French Basque Country (Espelette AOP zone)
- Known for
- AOP Espelette pepper
La Ferme Nahia produces piment d'Espelette under its protected designation. The pepper became an AOC on 1 June 2000 and a PDO (AOP) on 22 August 2002, and only ten Basque communes can grow it, among them Espelette, Cambo-les-Bains and Ustaritz. The peppers are harvested in late summer, and in September strings of them hang on house walls and balconies to dry. The village of Espelette has held a pepper festival on the last weekend of October since 1968.
Heat tops out around 4,000 on the Scoville scale, so it seasons more than it burns, and in Basque cooking it gradually replaced black pepper. Use it in piperade, on eggs, or over grilled fish and meat.
La Ferme Nahia questions
How hot is Espelette pepper?
Mild. Chili heat is measured on the Scoville scale, which tracks capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers burn; a bell pepper scores zero. Espelette tops out around 4,000 Scoville units, about where the jalapeño range of 4,000 to 8,500 begins. Its flavor is sweet and fruity, so it seasons food more than it burns, which is why it largely replaced black pepper in Basque cooking.
Where can Espelette pepper be grown?
Only in ten communes of the French Basque Country, including Espelette, Cambo-les-Bains and Ustaritz. The name is protected as an AOP, the French form of the EU's Protected Designation of Origin, which means the product must be grown and made in a defined area using local know-how. The rules also require the Gorria pepper variety and limit watering and planting density, so AOP on the label means the real Basque product.
