Peperone crusco

It is a dried and sweet-flavoured type of Capsicum annuum, cultivated in Basilicata since the 1600s. Usually the Senise pepper variety is used for its preparation, for the thin pulp and low water content which make it easier to be dried.[5] It can assume three shapes: pointed, conical or hooked.

Sowing begins in spring and harvest between July and August. Peppers are placed on cloths for three days in shady and dry places. Afterwards, they are tied with a lace forming garlands, called serte, and dried outdoors in the summer period. By tradition, they are hung on windows, balconies and houses' walls.[2]

The peperoni cruschi are a staple of Lucanian cuisine. They can be consumed on their own as a vegetable chip, as a side dish, and as a flavour enhancer.[6] Regularly they are cleaned with a dry cloth or kitchen paper, deprived of the petiole and the seeds and flash-fried for one or two seconds in hot olive oil, achieving a crispy texture after cooling down.[7] Among traditional dishes with peperone crusco as a relevant ingredient are pasta con i peperoni cruschi, baccalà alla lucana, acquasale, and pane cotto. It is also used as a powder flavour to enrich meat, legumes, bakery products, chocolate and ice cream.

• Cuisine of Basilicata
• List of dried foods

• Boulter, Liz (9 July 2017). "Moreish crunch, smoky tang: red peppers of Italy's far south". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2020.