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Peppadew and Parmesan muffins – IMBB #13

by Jeanne Horak on March 23, 2005 16 Comments in Baking (savoury), Is My Blog Burning?, Recipes, South African products

Peppadew and parmesan muffins

Apologies in advance – this is going to be a very very brief post (for a change!!) as I am due to catch a plane to Berlin very very soon, but I wanted to get my post up before I left… Maki over at I was just really very hungry decreed that the theme for this month’s Is My Blog Burning? event would be cupcakes and muffins – and I leapt at the chance to use my new muffin pan. A very happy coincidence!

Hands up, who has eaten Peppadews?

 

Peppadew peppers

 

These are “sweet piquante peppers” with a taste somewhere between a mild chilli and a plain bell pepper.  Why did I decide to make muffins with them?  Well, because they were discovered in the province where I grew up in South Africa!! Johan Steenkamp came across a chest-high bush of them in the garden of his holiday home in the Eastern Cape.  The bush was laden with small bright red fruit something like a cross between cherry tomatoes and very round chillies and voila – the Peppadew pepper was born!  They are now commercially grown and are very successfully exported, but remain (like me) a child of Africa.  So what better ingredient to choose to include in my muffins?

 

 

Here’s the recipe I used, which I got from Naomi’s Cooking:

PEPPADEW AND PARMESAN MUFFINS (makes 12 regular mufffns)

Ingredients:

500 ml (2 cups) cake flour

15 ml (3 teaspoons) baking powder

2,5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt

1,25 ml (1/4 teaspoon) ground black pepper

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

1 egg

62,5 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil

125 ml (1/2 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated

62,5 ml (1/4 cup) Peppadews, drained and chopped

10 ml (2 teaspoons) fresh thyme leaves

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 ºC (400 ºF). Grease a standard muffin tin.

Sift together the dry ingredients.

Whisk together the milk, egg and oil until smooth. Add the cheese, Peppadews and thyme.

Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup three-quarters full.

Bake for 12 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 3 minutes, then remove and serve with lots of butter.

Let me assure you they are absolutely heavenly – the salty Parmesan is a perfect foil for sweet, tangy slivers of Peppadew and the thyme seems to enhance the flavour of both. Yum yum yum.

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  1. Stephanie says

    March 23, 2005 at 5:22 pm

    What a great idea! Matt would love them (I think I bake as many savory muffins for him as sweet); I just wonder if we can get peppedew in the States?

    Reply
  2. Moira says

    March 24, 2005 at 4:18 pm

    Good God, Jeanne- these sound amazing! It’s a good thing you didn’t have more time to post…you would have just made them sound even more delicious than you already have.
    Can I pick up peppadews at my local Sainsbury’s?

    Reply
  3. Sally says

    March 26, 2005 at 5:09 am

    Hi Stephanie.
    Try either Whole Foods or Wild Oats. I have found peppedews (imported from South Africa) there in Whole Foods stores in Colorado. If you don’t have a Whole Foods or Wild Oats try a speciality food store.
    I think if Whole Foods have them then any speciality food store should. My local supermarket has them in occasionally.
    Sally

    Reply
  4. Jeanne says

    March 28, 2005 at 5:42 pm

    Hi Stephanie!
    You’ll see that Sally has already left a comment with some suggestions where to get Peppadews in the States – and here is a link on the Peppadew site telling you where to buy them closest to you:
    http://www.peppadew.com/webroot/america/america_wheretoshop.htm
    Good luck!
    Hi Moira
    Trust me – I am not overstating their fabulousness one bit – these muffins are seriously addictive!! I got my Peppedews at a Tesco Metro (renowned for having a teensy product range!) so getting them at most Tesco/Sainsbury/Waitrose stores will not be a problem. They are also great chopped up in tuna salad, in pasta sauces or on pizzas. I also think I once saw a recipe using them as a topping for fish fillets but can’t remember the details now… Butyou get the picture – you won’t struggle to get through a bottle!
    Hi Sal!
    Thanks for the tips – you can be the official Cooksister food outlet sourcer in the US! 😉

    Reply
  5. Owen says

    March 30, 2005 at 1:13 am

    Jeanne,
    that brought back memories (of Peppadews). My sister usually brings a jar when she comes visit – not sure why really – she lives in Sheffield and that just doesn’t seem like a peppadew kind of place to me. I’m usually more interested in being brought jars of lime pickle and branston and chocolate digestives and tea and beer and cider – all things that are hard to get here, much better there and which I eat or drink regularly. But now I know what to do with the peppadews…

    Reply
  6. johanna says

    April 1, 2005 at 11:22 pm

    oh jeanne, entirely grateful i am for this suggestion! my dad spotted these peppadews when he visited last time, but he is fond of the savoury sort, you know, the astringent, full-of-vinegar variety. So I’ve got a jatr of them unused in my fridge – and now I finally know hwat to do with the left-overs…

    Reply
  7. Christina says

    April 4, 2005 at 9:45 am

    Ooh! Those muffins look and sound delish!
    I discovered peppadews in my local Tesco a couple of years ago and have been addicted ever since – they hit just the right balance of ‘sweet’, ‘hot’ and ‘capsicum’ for me. Great stuffed with soft cheese and roasted. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Stephanie says

    April 4, 2005 at 5:49 pm

    I appreciate all the peppadew info…alas, they are not sold in Tennessee! I don’t suppose anyone out there would want to swap goods?

    Reply
  9. The Confabulist says

    April 5, 2005 at 1:24 am

    Peppadews of Madness, Empanadas of Malcontent

    The Peppadew is a sweet, tangy, mildly spicy pickled pepper from South Africa. It’s got an appealing flavor profile: It starts out sweet, then gets tangy, and then finishes with a warm, suffused heat.

    Reply
  10. Alanna says

    October 5, 2005 at 5:32 pm

    Heya – I tried your famous muffins too! It’s posted over at A Veggie Venture!

    Reply
  11. Rikke says

    May 4, 2006 at 10:53 am

    Ok, my question is a bit different, Where do I get sour milk? Is it Amazi? or can I use a substitute like perhaps diluted sour cream, or even buttermilk?

    Reply
  12. Jeanne says

    May 4, 2006 at 5:27 pm

    Hi Owen
    Peppadews from Sheffield… now there’s an interesting concept!! Odd, but interesting 😉 And I think in future you should insist on chocolate coated digestives instead. Or oatcakes. And yes, Branston! There are all kinds of things you can do with peppadews – they are great on kebabs, in salads, finely chopped into tuna salad or mixed with a sticky honey and soy marinade for pork chops. Mmmmm!
    Hi Johanna
    Yes – see my response to Owen above for more uses. I must say, the full-of-vinegar ones don’t do it for me… but I guess the world would be dull if we all liked the same stuff!
    Hi Christina
    OMG, stuffed with soft cheese and roasted. *long pause* Just having a happy private moment imagining what that would taste like… Must try that out this summer!
    Hi Stephanie
    Awww, what a drag! I woudl be happy to do a food swap… but my record for safely getting glass jars of stuff to people by post is nil so far. 🙁
    Hi Alanna
    Cool – the famous muffins are becoming even MORE famous! Hope you loved them as much as I did 🙂

    Reply
  13. Jeanne says

    May 4, 2006 at 5:37 pm

    Hi Rikke
    Glad you ask! 😉 The original recipe called for buttermilk, but I struggled *so* to find that in supermarkets here, that eventually I looked up substitutes on the Internet – and that’s where the soured milk with added lemon juice came in. So if you can easily use buttermilk then yes, use that!

    Reply
  14. simran says

    June 16, 2006 at 12:05 am

    can we get fresh peppadews in south africa,nutritative value of peppadews

    Reply
  15. Elizabeth Boonzaaier says

    May 6, 2008 at 10:33 am

    In my garden I have a pepper of some sorts – it is red and looks like a little bell. Is this a peppadew?
    Liz

    Reply
  16. Sue | Cater says

    July 16, 2009 at 7:47 am

    Now don’t you just find that peppadew’s are just heavenly, I have them in my cupboard in stock because you never know when you will feel like them, I add them to a lot of my dishes but my favorite has to be with cheese and biscuits.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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