Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Sweet Piquanté Chile Peppers

What are Peppadews?

Peppadew is the trademark name for sweet piquanté peppers that are pickled and bottled by South African company Peppadew International Ltd. These peppers have a sweet flavor with a mild spice level and are sold in jars. They’re often used as a topping, condiment, or ingredient in dishes like pizza or sandwiches. 

Botanically, sweet piquanté peppers are known as Capiscum baccatum. They are one of the five species of domesticated chile pepper (the other four are annuum, chinense, frutescens, and pubescens). While piquanté peppers originated in South America, they ended up in South Africa, where a grower began to pickle and sell the peppers under the brand name Peppadew in the 1990s. 

Piquanté peppers are not known for their natural heat but rather for their sweet flavor. The peppers clock in at between 1000 and 1200 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) on the Scoville scale, which measures the heat level of peppers. 

Piquanté peppers and cherry peppers have a similar small size and tomato-like shape, but they’re different varieties. However, both are frequently pickled or marinated and used as condiments, snacks, or appetizers. While piquanté are often stuffed with soft cheese, cherry peppers are frequently stuffed with cured meats and aged Italian cheeses like provolone. 

Piquanté peppers are sweeter and smaller than cherry peppers. Cherry peppers tend to be hotter, with the variety known as hot cherry pepper or Hungarian cherry pepper ranging from 2500 to 5000 SHU. Cherry bomb peppers, another similar variety, are a little milder, ranging from 1000 to 3000 SHU.  

Peppadews or pickled piquanté peppers are primarily used as a condiment, whole, sliced, or chopped, on a variety of dishes. Drain peppers and use them to top pizza, sandwiches, wraps, and salads, or incorporate them into snack plates, party trays, antipasti platters, and cheese or charcuterie boards. They’re often filled with soft, fresh cheeses like goat cheese or cream cheese. 

Peppadews can also be used to flavor dips, spreads, salsas, dressings, soups, and sauces. The leftover pickling brine can also be used to add sweet, tangy, and spicy flavors to brines, marinades, and salad dressings.