End of summer and like every year, this year it’s time to cut our red peppers …
Peppers that we take care of with so much love and we look forward to growing them to make our delicious pasta.
This year we had great help from our two little helpers who with one hand put the peppers in the crate, with the other they ate the other one!
We are in the small village Kastana, just outside Thessaloniki, where the watermelon festival takes place every July. Beatiful because my grandmother is there and because in the middle of the square dominated my grandfather’s old grocery store -which has now been turned into the village pharmacy- from where the ‘mama irene’ started.
I remember my dad looking for a name for the business and one day announcing it to mum .. “Irene we will say it like you”
With enough play and hunting in the yard -which I would really like to have in our own house- ..
Grandma’s house is in front of the square and next to the City Hall. The village is very small and now has less than 600 permanent residents, most of whom are Pontians. But when he had life, everything was more beautiful .. The old grocery store was working and there were always people gossiping, in the square children were playing on the swings .. and I with them. People were coming and going to the City Hall from the surrounding villages, while more and more announcements were coming out of the loudspeakers. Every Thursday, there was a small public market that took place once a week here in front …
So the grandmother’s house has these courtyards of the village with the lawn, the stone, the big gate, the trees full of fruits and the blooming flowers … It also had a big olive tree in the center that when I was little you lost me you found me I was climbing up but when she grew up she did not have the courage to take care of her anymore and cut it .. In one part of the yard there is a farmer and behind the house there was the coop and the stable. Of course only my grandfather’s old blue tractor is left in the canopy outside the stable. And that has faded over the years. Anyway, Stelios goes crazy to go up and asks every time we put it forward to go to work !!
Back to the peppers now … Florinas peppers are the Macedonian variety of red pepper with a sweet taste.
They are a delicious choice, rich in vitamins C, A, K, B6 and E. Suitable for various preparations in the kitchen such as salads, omelettes, baked or grilled, in various dishes. Its consumption enriches our body with the essentials <<supplies>> as they also contain significant antioxidant activity.
Dip with Florinas peppers
Bake the peppers in the oven and peel them. Clean the seeds and cut into thin strips. Add salt, parsley, garlic, oil and a little vinegar. I fill the glass jars (which I have sterilized), close them with the lid and place them in a pot next to each other and fill with water up to the mouth of the jar (not to exceed the lid). Boil for 10 ‘, tighten the lids again and turn them upside down until they cool. Store in a cool place.
In our house, however, we do not catch Florina peppers. The little bugs eat them raw in pairs!
