RED PEPPER SOUP WITH CHICKPEAS & CHIPOTLE CRIOLLO CHILLI

INGREDIENTS

Organic Chickpeas — Cuore Verde, Umbria, Italy
Red & Green Pepper — Bartolomeo, Tuccio & Antonio, Italy
Extra Virgin Olive Oil — Tom & Juli, Kyparissia, Greece
Golden Onion — Parrish family, Bedfordshire, UK
Celery — Spain (Oct-April), UK (May -September)
Lemon Juice — squeezed fresh daily in Bermondsey
Natural Fine Sea Salt — Atlit, Israel
Organic Cumin Seeds — Hill & Vale, Pakistan
Chipotle Criollo Chilli — Gabino & Minerva, Sierra Veracruz, Mexico
Garlic — Murcia, Spain

Working with fresh seasonal ingredients is complex. Weather conditions or other factors beyond our control mean that occasionally, we may have to top up our usual direct suppliers with market alternatives.

Gabina and Minerva, with their family and neighbours, carry the tradition for sowing, growing and smoking Criollo Chillies. Beyond the powerful flavour they bring to the table, these chillies are a vital part of the Misantla community’s culinary culture and identity — one that they fight to preserve.

Mexico is the centre of origin and diversification of more than 90 varieties of domesticated chilli peppers of the Capsicum annuum species. This is why chillies are used as a condiment, vegetable and medicine in practically all the living native cultures of the territory. Despite this, it imports almost 50% of chillies from abroad every year. These imports drive down local demand and prices, while modern pests and climate change threaten the future of the Criollo crop.

Gabino and Minerva have passed seeds, cultivation methods and culinary traditions down the generations. They grow in the mountainous region of the Sierra Veracruz, where the high altitude and moisture that comes from the fog generated by the proximity to the ocean offer up the ideal climatic conditions for jalapeño growth. They come together as a community to deseed, dry and smoke the chillies in hand-built ovens for around 36 hours.

The result: chipotle with a deep, smoky flavour and powerful aroma that couldn’t be further from muted, conventional varieties.

Francisco and Sofia of TAMOA have connected us with this community. They work directly with growers like Gabino and Minerva to perpetuate not only the Creole seeds of the country, but also their native, affective, and cultural technologies, linked to the territory and identity in the community. Together, we can embed globalisation with the ethos of local food to create a sustainable way forward for distinct, cultural food heritage.