Turkish pepper paste

Turkish pepper paste

One of our favorite foods to prepare when we are done processing seeds for a crop is pepper paste... Turkish style!

Curing, processing and drying food under sun to prepare so-called value-added food products is a very old, generational tradition in Turkey, like in many other cultures that wrote the agricultural code. In Turkey, this practice is still a common part of homesteading, with the main goal being to preserve summer flavors and use these products in cooking throughout winter and spring, until the next growing season arrives.

Although the history of pepper and tomato is only about 250 years old in Turkey,  both of these crops are commonly used for cooking as communities incorporated them into their traditional recipes in various ways across the country. One common way of processing these vegetables is to make paste out of them.

In this post, we wanted to summarize the steps to explain how we make pepper paste on our farm.

Step 1: Choosing the right pepper

We typically choose a pepper variety such as Yağlık 28 to make sweet pepper paste and Kale or Pul Biberlik Antep to make hot pepper paste not only because we tested these varieties over and over again to deliver excellent results, but also their fruit size and flesh yield, thanks to the fruits’ wall thickness, are ideal for pepper paste recipes. 

Step 2: Saving seeds first and cleaning the fruit shells

Once we harvest seeds from our pepper crop to process and offer them in our catalog, we keep the leftover fruits, cut the stem, remove spoiled parts of the fruits, if any, and thoroughly wash the shells.

Next, we thoroughly wash the fruits, making sure that there is no dirt left on the shells. We use this large, 20 qt. stainless steel bowl to wash the fruits.

Yağlık 28 sweet peppers are de-seeded and thoroughly washed in preparation for making Turkish pepper paste
First step of making Turkish pepper paste is to thoroughly wash the fruits after de-seeding them
Step 3: Blending the shells to make pulp

Then, we toss all of the shells into a 6-cup smoothie blender to blend them into pulp and run this pulp through a large colander into the bowl we have to remove left over coarse, fibrous parts and fruit skin. 

Second step for making Turkish pepper paste is to run the pulp through a colander to remove the coarse parts of the pulp.
After blending the fruit shells in a smoothie blender, pulp is run through a large colander
Step 4: Drying the pulp

Finally, we pour the sieved pulp in the bowl into a shallow tray. At this stage, it is important to use a tray with a large surface area and shallow depth to make it easier for the pulp to evenly lose moisture and to gain paste texture.

Final stage of making Turkish Pepper Paste is to transfer the pulp into a shallow tray with a large surface area
Final stage of making Turkish Pepper Paste is to transfer the pulp into a shallow tray with a large surface area

Make sure to evenly spread the pulp over the tray and mix it 3-4 times a day. One of the important things to remember is to check the weather channel and make sure to make your paste in a sunny and dry week since the entire process needs to be completed outside. In addition, you can use cheese cloth to cover the tray and prevent dust particle or bugs to get stuck in your paste.

If you know that it will rain at any point during the curing process, you can also move the tray into your oven which was pre-heated to 175F for the pulp to eventually reach paste consistency.

On a rainy day, pulp can be moved indoors, into an oven pre-heated to 175F
On a rainy day, pulp can be moved indoors, into an oven pre-heated to 175F

As you keep stirring the pulp for 2-3 days, you will notice that it becomes more solid as the sun removes the moisture in it.

Sun dried pulp slowly but surely gains paste consistency
Sun dried pulp slowly but surely gains paste consistency
Step 5: Bottling the paste

Finally, remove the pepper paste from the tray to preserve it in a mason jar. As you may have noticed, we did not add any preservatives to the paste. If you would like to, you can add 1 tablespoons of salt to 2 lbs of pulp on Day 1 of drying the pulp. 

Turkish pepper paste is ready to be jarred
Turkish pepper paste is ready to be bottled
 
Regardless of you add salt in your paste or not, we highly recommend you to add olive oil in the mason jar, enough to cover the paste, and toss the jar in your fridge immediately. Olive oil helps to preserve the paste you made. It is important to keep the rest of the paste, that you won’t immediately use, in your freezer to prolong the shelf life of it.
 
 
Turkish pepper paste is jarred and ready to use
Turkish pepper paste is bottled and ready to use
 

We love to spread this paste on bread for snacking. It is delicious! We also love to cook all sorts of stews with it. Let us know in the comment section below if you have any questions or how you would like to use the pepper paste you make.

We are also adding links to some of our favorite seeds in our catalog that make great pepper paste below. Check them out! Bon appétit!

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