Am I in Spain or Heaven?

[witsendwv]

Neither actually, but this evening my Pimientos de Padron plants produced a small plate of peppers that we enjoyed with a glass of Yzaguirre vermut. Not Spain, but I can still dream..... , and we are so looking forward to the day we are able to return safely.

 

[La Brique Jaune]

Yes, When we love this country and we cannot go in, a thing we can do it's bring the country to us. For myself the meal brings me to Spain its calamares fritos

 

[VNwalking]

Heaven. Definitely heaven.

 

[malingerer]

Yes, When we love this country and we cannot go in, a thing we can do it's bring the country to us. For myself the meal brings me to Spain its calamares fritos

We ae never far from mentions of booze! Methinks Ivar will have to create a new sub-forum entitled " The Sots of Santiago" !!

Keep on truckin!

The Malingerer.

 

[Pelegrin]

Neither actually, but this evening my Pimientos de Padron plants produced a small plate of peppers that we enjoyed with a glass of Yzaguirre vermut. Not Spain, but I can still dream..... , and we are so looking forward to the day we are able to return safely.

View attachment 78024

Did you get them some are hot and others are not ?

 

[Charrito]

We ae never far from mentions of booze! Methinks Ivar will have to create a new sub-forum entitled " The Sots of Santiago" !!

Keep on truckin!

The Malingerer.

I'm joining the group!

 

[Caminogoat]

Neither actually, but this evening my Pimientos de Padron plants produced a small plate of peppers that we enjoyed with a glass of Yzaguirre vermut. Not Spain, but I can still dream..... , and we are so looking forward to the day we are able to return safely.

View attachment 78024

Wow, that looks good. I kept asking for it while I was walking Norte last year. I didn't get any until I went to Padron at my lodging called Casa de Marcelo. They told me it was too early for the season. I shared it in a family-style dinner with 7 other Spaniards. When I told them how I was looking for it, they gave it ALL to me.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Has anybody come across a rogue padron in their food?
We sampled some while on the Portuguese a few years ago - stuffed with goat's cheese - mmmm.
All went well until my friend literally spit half a pepper across the table. Apparently you get the odd one or two that are comparable in heat to a jalapeno. They look the same but are much higher up the Scoville scale than normal.
Haven't been tempted to try one since!

🌶🌶🌶

 

[Caminogoat]

I know how your friend felt. I found similar looking peppers at the Costco and suffered the same fate.

 

[C & W]

I know I would enjoy the pimientos padron because I ate them almost every day on my first camino. We could not find them very frequently the second time around because we were walking too early in the year. I am interested, though, in the vermouth. I think of it as something to give a martini a bit of a different flavor, but I did not realize people drank it straight. Is that popular in Europe?

 

[Pelegrin]

I know I would enjoy the pimientos padron because I ate them almost every day on my first camino. We could not find them very frequently the second time around because we were walking too early in the year. I am interested, though, in the vermouth. I think of it as something to give a martini a bit of a different flavor, but I did not realize people drank it straight. Is that popular in Europe?

The vermouth was very popular in Spain 40 years ago. There were bars that also served tap vermouth. The custom was going to a bar on weekends before lunch for a vermouth with a tapa (aperitivo). Today is much more popular beer or even wine.

 

[witsendwv]

Did you get them some are hot and others are not ?

We actually got one that was hot-- and of course it was one that I ate! Picking more today, we should have a larger plateful!

 

[witsendwv]

I know I would enjoy the pimientos padron because I ate them almost every day on my first camino. We could not find them very frequently the second time around because we were walking too early in the year. I am interested, though, in the vermouth. I think of it as something to give a martini a bit of a different flavor, but I did not realize people drank it straight. Is that popular in Europe?

Vermouth is popular and can be found on tap in Spain in bars. It is not the same Vermouth that is used in a martini. It is a fortified, aromatized wine usually served with a slice of orange. There are different recipes depending upon the company, but always includes Artemesia absinthe, this is the herb that gives it the bitter quality. We have taken several city food tours in Spain with Devour Tours, and during this pandemic they offered virtual tours. For Fathers' Day, I gave my husband a Zoom tour that taught us how to make homemade vermut. We are gathering the ingredients and will let you know how it turns out! We have found the Yzaguirre here in the US, but at 5 times price as in Spain, it is a special occasion drink.

 

[ISABEL linares]

Where ever you are in the world,you are doing very well,with one of the best Spanish vermouth,and the pimientos del padron,did you buy the seeds in Spain,let me know.Enjoy your apertivo.

 

[Pelegrin]

We actually got one that was hot-- and of course it was one that I ate! Picking more today, we should have a larger plateful!

Good!!
One hot out of seven?. Then lack of rain is not a problem where you live.

 

[witsendwv]

I have found them at La Casa del la Miel on Calle Atocha in Madrid as well as hardware stores on my caminos. The only one I remember is on Rua Lugo just after entering Arzua and before the camino goes off to the left Hostal Restaurante Teodora.

 

[witsendwv]

Good!!
One hot out of seven?. Then lack of rain is not a problem where you live.

It is getting a bit dry now, but it rained everyday in June except one. I have them in pots so I could move them, but there are sixteen of them and the rain here lately seems to happen fast and unexpectedly!!

 

[witsendwv]

Since it is an aperitivo I would think the number for Vermut would be lower. Slow sipping it over a tapa, and even "seco" is sweet to me so I can't drink much. The cerveza I understand the number as my husband and I have contributed more to that amount than Vermut while walking.

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

We ae never far from mentions of booze! Methinks Ivar will have to create a new sub-forum entitled " The Sots of Santiago" !!

Keep on truckin!

The Malingerer.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

 

[ginniek]

I know I would enjoy the pimientos padron because I ate them almost every day on my first camino. We could not find them very frequently the second time around because we were walking too early in the year. I am interested, though, in the vermouth. I think of it as something to give a martini a bit of a different flavor, but I did not realize people drank it straight. Is that popular in Europe?

You will read about drinking vermouth in articles and books--both fiction and non fiction--from the Spanish Civil War.

 

[witsendwv]

You will read about drinking vermouth in articles and books--both fiction and non fiction--from the Spanish Civil War.

We would be very interested, can you post some links?

 

[ISABEL linares]

In Madrid is very typical to meet your friends for apertivo,and many of the old bares they will have the vermouth de grifo (tap).

 

[ginniek]

We would be very interested, can you post some links?

I would have to do a search for links, and will when I get some time. You could look at Hemingway's books and stories set in Spain, such as The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls. And also short stories and reports by Hemingway's third wife and rival journalist Martha Gellhorn.

 

[Davey Boyd]

Has anybody come across a rogue padron in their food?
We sampled some while on the Portuguese a few years ago - stuffed with goat's cheese - mmmm.
All went well until my friend literally spit half a pepper across the table. Apparently you get the odd one or two that are comparable in heat to a jalapeno. They look the same but are much higher up the Scoville scale than normal.
Haven't been tempted to try one since!

🌶🌶🌶

Yes, I have had one or two over the years that made me sweat! And I am a chilli addict. There is much debate if this is even a thing or why it would happen though....

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Lucky me...I do not like hot and spicy and of all the Padron peppers I have eaten in Spain, I thankfully was not surprised by a hot one!

 

[witsendwv]

Yes, I have had one or two over the years that made me sweat! And I am a chilli addict. There is much debate if this is even a thing or why it would happen though....

You only know that it is a "rogue" padron if it is a spicy one! Otherwise it is just a pepper!

 

[witsendwv]

I would have to do a search for links, and will when I get some time. You could look at Hemingway's books and stories set in Spain, such as The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls. And also short stories and reports my Hemingway's third wife and rival journalist Martha Gellhorn.

Hemingway and Michner's "Iberia" led me to study Spanish as a teenager and live in Madrid from Aug. 1975 to Feb. 1976. It was an amazing time. After I came home "life happened", and I did not get to return to Madrid until 2015 and have been back every year since. I still read and re-read those books.

 

[witsendwv]

Lucky me...I do not like hot and spicy and of all the Padron peppers I have eaten in Spain, I thankfully was not surprised by a hot one!

I am not a fan of spicy, but any hot padron I have had could be calmed by a sip of a cana! (And all the mild ones makes the gamble worthwhile!!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Yes, I have had one or two over the years that made me sweat! And I am a chilli addict. There is much debate if this is even a thing or why it would happen though....

Cuckoo in the nest?

 

[witsendwv]

Cuckoo in the nest?

We just ate a plate of 50+ Padron peppers and not a single hot one. We were lucky!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

T

Yes, I have had one or two over the years that made me sweat! And I am a chilli addict. There is much debate if this is even a thing or why it would happen though....

That got me wondering and Wikipedia (your views may agree . . . or not!) says

Their peculiarity lies on the fact that, while their taste is usually mild, a minority (10-25%) are particularly hot. Whether a given pepper ends up being hot or mild depends on the amount of water and sunlight it receives during its growth, in addition to temperature. It's said that solely watering the soil of the plant is likely to produce milder pimentos, whilst watering the whole plant, leaves and stalks included, produces peppers of the spicier variety.

Padrón peppers are small, with an elongated, conic shape. The taste is mild, but some exemplars can be quite hot, which property has given rise to the popular Galician aphorism Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non ("Padrón peppers, some are hot, some are not").[6] Typically, there is no way of determining whether a given pepper will be hot or mild, short of actually eating it, though some maintain that smelling each cooked Padrón for spice prior to eating is a good indicator.

 

[Davey Boyd]

T

That got me wondering and Wikipedia (your views may agree . . . or not!) says

Their peculiarity lies on the fact that, while their taste is usually mild, a minority (10-25%) are particularly hot. Whether a given pepper ends up being hot or mild depends on the amount of water and sunlight it receives during its growth, in addition to temperature. It's said that solely watering the soil of the plant is likely to produce milder pimentos, whilst watering the whole plant, leaves and stalks included, produces peppers of the spicier variety.

Padrón peppers are small, with an elongated, conic shape. The taste is mild, but some exemplars can be quite hot, which property has given rise to the popular Galician aphorism Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non ("Padrón peppers, some are hot, some are not").[6] Typically, there is no way of determining whether a given pepper will be hot or mild, short of actually eating it, though some maintain that smelling each cooked Padrón for spice prior to eating is a good indicator.

So it is a thing! That makes sense

 

[witsendwv]

T

That got me wondering and Wikipedia (your views may agree . . . or not!) says

Their peculiarity lies on the fact that, while their taste is usually mild, a minority (10-25%) are particularly hot. Whether a given pepper ends up being hot or mild depends on the amount of water and sunlight it receives during its growth, in addition to temperature. It's said that solely watering the soil of the plant is likely to produce milder pimentos, whilst watering the whole plant, leaves and stalks included, produces peppers of the spicier variety.

Padrón peppers are small, with an elongated, conic shape. The taste is mild, but some exemplars can be quite hot, which property has given rise to the popular Galician aphorism Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non ("Padrón peppers, some are hot, some are not").[6] Typically, there is no way of determining whether a given pepper will be hot or mild, short of actually eating it, though some maintain that smelling each cooked Padrón for spice prior to eating is a good indicator.

I have not seen information about differing watering schemes, but in June it poured down rain every day. We had several hot peppers. July has been hot with no rain, just my watering can on the soil. Not so many hot peppers lately, but we are being inundated with them. We can’t keep up with picking them and they hide so well among the leaves that when I do find them they are huge! (Those are the peppers I let stay on until fall so I can save the seeds). 🌶