"peppadews" news and stories

Peppadews, those tasty little sweet hot peppers from South Africa are grown and made by a socially responsible company, one who cares for their fellow country folk. Peppadew International, whose head office is located in Johannesburg, is committed to the uplifting of the communities in which it is located and a quarter of its contracted farmers come from previously disadvantaged communities. The company is dedicated to training and development of its employees to uplift and empower them so they can better support themselves and their families.

Peppadew Internationals main factory and farming operations are located in the northeast part of South Africa where it borders with Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Mozambique. They have 7-8 processing buildings in the town of Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province near Kruger National Park. This area of South Africa is very impoverished, with a unemployment rate of at least 46%, but Peppadew is creating social opportunities for thousands of people. They employ 3,000 South Africans full time and another 5,000 are hired as indirect, seasonal staff working on the farms, growing and harvesting the peppers. Peppadew peppers are very labor intensive and require around 11 workers per hectare to produce them.

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I love Italian hot and spicy pickled peppers stuffed with provolone and prosciutto to serve at parties, but some folks can't take the heat. Now from Austria are Die Kasemacher stuffed peppers. These are a sweet pickled pepper from South Africa with only the tiniest trace of heat , similar to the South African Peppadews. The peppers are then stuffed with a blend of sheep and goat's milk cheese giving the sweet, tart, and crispy peppers a luscious creamy middle. Each one is small enough to pop in your mouth for a tangy treat that goes great with drinks. Die Kasemacher also makes several other Austrian cheese stuffed pickled veggies like olives, onions, tomatoes, artichokes, and mushrooms. I'm glad I found out about these so I can have something new to put out at all the holiday parties that are coming up in a few weeks, especially since they have such a great red and white festive look to them as well.

Peppadew is the first new fruit to be launched on the world market since the Kiwi 26 years ago. It is a South African fruit that have a hot, spicy yet sweet taste. Stuffed peppadews are now on sale at Harrods and various delis across the UK.

You can stuff them with olives and feta cheese but for the low down on the little darlings have a look at the cooksister's blog. Peppadews were discovered in the South African province where she grew up. One Johan Steenkamp discovered a chest-high bush of them in the garden of his holiday home in the Eastern Cape.  As the Jeanne, the Cooksister writes "The bush was laden with small bright red fruit something like a cross between cherry tomatoes and very round chillies - voila - the peppadew!"

Jeanne has two recipes on her blog for these uniquely South African specialties - Peppadew and Parmesan Muffins and Biltong, Blue Cheese and Peppadew Quiche.

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