Mention the word "chilli" and most people think new world - Mexico definitely, Texas and New Mexico probably. Not many know that in a tiny outpost of the old world, in a corner of the Pays Basque near the Spanish border in south-west France, a small red chilli, now known as Piment d'Espelette, has been firmly established for more than four centuries.
How did a little red chilli come to pack such a punch in the Basque country? Jean Louis Salaberry, a Piment d'Espelette processor whose shop in Hasparren doubles as a museum, explains that it was down to one of the 16th century Basque navigators who used Bayonne as a base.
On return from their voyages they brought treasured items from the new world: chocolate (for which Bayonne became celebrated), corn (which would feed the ducks and pigs for the hams and foie gras that are the pride of south-west France) and members of the capsicum family, sweet and hot. Among the latter there was a small, medium-hot chilli pepper. It took root in the favourable climate and soil of the Nive valley and proceeded to carve out a niche for itself in the local gastronomy.
The annual life cycle of the Piment d'Espelette begins around the feast of St Joseph, March 19, when the seeds are sown under cover. With a little gentle heat the plants soon grow to a few centimetres high. Next they are pricked out, potted on and left to grow under cover until they reach about 50cm in height.
Towards the end of May, they are planted out in serried ranks, their feet shaded and protected from weeds by a mulch of black plastic. "Chillis like to have their feet in the wet and their heads in the warm", says Salaberry.
Harvesting starts during August and continues until the first frosts (about mid-October). The chillis are harvested in succession: not all the fruits on each bush reach the requisite state of beautiful red ripeness at the same time. They are sorted, cleaned and painstakingly threaded on to fine string and hung up to dry. Traditionally the chillis were suspended on the east façade of the houses. Sheltered on this side, explains Salaberry, they are safe from the wet weather from the west, the cold from the north and the warm wind that blows up the valley in autumn.
Though many Piments d'Espelette nowadays are dried under cover, you will still find some strung up outside the houses for show - the best time for Espelette-spotting is mid-September, when the new piments have just gone up, their beautiful brick-red colour blending harmoniously with the classic red shutters and window frames that distinguish Basque houses. Once air-dried, the chillis are sorted again, de-stalked and spread out on wicker or metal trays. In the last step, the drying process is completed in fan-assisted ovens at 45-55°C for up to two days, with a final short blast at 70°C. This gives the chillis their characteristic, faintly toasted, aroma. Now all that remains is for them to be finely ground, seeds and all, and put up in pots ready for sale.
The end product ranges in colour from bright brick-red to orange. The depth of colour depends on whether the peppers were harvested early or late in the season, explains Laurence Lastiri, a small-scale producer in Itxassou whose piment won a gold medal in the prestigious Concours Agricole held in Paris each spring. (Not bad for a native of Brittany who only started growing chillis seven years ago as a sideline when her children had flown the nest.) Laurence can be found every Wednesday morning in the market in Espelette, chatting to customers and giving tips on how to use her prize-winning spice.
The finished spice has a lovely toasty, sweetish, peppery nose. To taste, it falls into the "warm-glow" rather than the "blast-your-sinuses-apart" category.
Since Piment d'Espelette was awarded Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) status in 1999, demand has just about been matched by carefully controlled but steadily increasing supply - in 1997, pre-AOC, 30 producers planted 200,000 plants on eight hectares; by 2001 this had increased to 58 small-scale producers (plus the two processors above) with 530,000 plants on 28ha. How heartening - for once - to find a long-treasured, small-scale regional product that is going from strength to strength.
Sue Style's trip to the Pays Basque was organised by the Comité Départemental du Tourisme Béarn-Pays Basque and by Tastevin du Monde
