I am not particularly fond of spicy food. Sure, I can tolerate a little heat and use chiles in my cooking (essential in my easy weekday pasta with lemon and sardines), but when I do, I do so sparingly. What I’m looking for is warmth, not painfully numb taste buds and watering eyes. Piment d’Espelette, however, has an aromatic, sweet type of heat I can’t seem to get enough of. In fact, I even add it to chocolate desserts and sprinkle it over thinly sliced oranges. Sound strange? Try it – you’ll thank me!
I discovered the French peppers one October during the annual Fête du Piment, held since 1968 in Espelette, a pretty mountain village in the province of Labourd, nestled in the rugged, green Basque Country of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and only 40 minutes from the wide beaches of Biarritz.
