Pimientos del Piquillo de Lodosa

Appearance & taste

The Piquillo pepper is deep red, tastes sweet and is small: usually no longer than 10 cm, on average 4 to 5 cm wide and weighing 35 to 50 g. It is triangular, tapers to a point at the top, hangs from the plant and has thin flesh of about 0.3 cm. Even after processing it keeps the characteristics of the variety: red colour, sweet taste, small size and thin flesh. According to the specification, the traditional method preserves its characteristic aroma.

The peppers are sold whole, in strips or in pieces, in the classes “Extra” and I. Whole pods of the “Extra” class have at most 20 seeds, those of class I at most 40. The label states whether the peppers are preserved or freshly roasted.

Production

Growing and processing take place in the defined area. The pods are harvested ripe, once they have turned red; they must be sound, whole, clean and free of cracks and damage. In businesses in the area they are roasted over an open flame and peeled without coming into contact with water or chemical substances, and then packed without any covering liquid. Each container holds only peppers of the same class and bears a consecutively numbered control label that cannot be reused.

Origin & history

The area comprises eight municipalities in the Ribera Baja of Navarre, on the banks of the Ebro and the Ega. Here the Ebro and its tributaries Ega, Arga and Aragón form wide meanders with fertile plains that descend in terraces from about 500 to 250 m; most of the peppers grow on these plains. The climate is semi-arid, with little rain and large temperature differences between day and night, which according to the specification shapes the quality of the pods.

The Piquillo variety has long been grown by farmers in the area. Roasting and peeling was the traditional way of preserving the peppers from their own vegetable gardens; over time they were also sold in the neighbouring regions. Preserved peppers are already mentioned in the “Practicón”, a culinary work from 1893. On 6 June 1986 the regional government of Navarre recognised the “Pimiento del Piquillo de Lodosa” with Regional Decree 152/86.