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فلفل إسبيليت
AOP · 2000Pays Basque, FR
Espelette Pepper
AOP 2000
French AOP status
PDO at EU level since 2002
10
communes of origin
Labourd, Basque Country
~4k SHU
Scoville heat
warm, not aggressive
Gorria
sole authorised cultivar
Capsicum annuum cv.
Visual atlas
Profile
Piment d'Espelette is a Capsicum annuum of the cultivar Gorria, grown on ten communes of the French Basque Country in the foothills of the western Pyrenees: Espelette, Itxassou, Ainhoa, Cambo-les-Bains, Jatxou, Halsou, Larressore, Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, Souraide and Ustaritz. The fruit is small — six to fourteen centimetres — conical, glossy red, and thin-walled. It was granted AOC status in France in 2000 and AOP status at the European level in 2002, making it the first French chile to earn a protected designation. Heat is deliberately restrained, around 4,000 Scoville on the low end and rarely above 8,000: the cultivar is bred for aroma, not burn. The powder is the best-known form, but the AOP also covers whole dried pods, strung into cordes (garlands) hung on the white lime-washed, ox-blood-timbered facades of Basque houses from late September, and a puree packed in jars. In Basque cooking the chile replaced black pepper after the Columbian exchange, and it still defines the flavour skeleton of axoa de veau, piperade, marmitako, jambon de Bayonne and chocolat de Bayonne.
Origin
AOP · 2000Pays Basque, FR.
AOP since 2000.
FR
Pays Basque · Espelette, Labourd (France)
Process
01March
Nursery sowing
Gorria seeds started under cover in the Nive valley — cool Atlantic nights shape the slow cycle.
02May
Field planting
Seedlings transplanted to open plots of the ten AOP communes — Espelette, Itxassou, Ainhoa, Cambo-les-Bains and six others.
03July–August
Fruit set
Thin-walled conical fruits swell green, then blush orange. Growers hand-pick in several passes as each pod reddens.
04September
First red harvest
Only fully red pods are cut. Under AOP rules, picking is manual, plot by plot — no mechanical strip.
05October
String and dry
Pods are threaded into garlands and hung on the white half-timbered facades — the postcard image that is actually working infrastructure.
06Your jar
Oven-finish then grind
After open-air drying, pods are oven-finished at low heat, then stone-ground into the signature brick-red powder.
Inside the berry
The molecules that make it taste like Kampot — and not like anything else.
Capsicum annuum cv. Gorria delivers a measured ~4,000 SHU — capsaicinoids present but dialled down, letting sugars, carotenoids and faint smoke speak.
~4k
Scoville units
mid-heat, food-friendly
0.04%
Total capsaicinoids
of dry weight
12%
Moisture
after oven-finish
Gorria
Sole cultivar
AOP cahier des charges
Volatile compound profile
- Capsaicin62.0%
The pungent signature — warm, rounded, never brutal at this dose.
- Dihydrocapsaicin28.0%
Second major capsaicinoid, deepens the lingering warmth.
- Nordihydrocapsaicin6.0%
Lighter heat, faster release at the front of the palate.
- Capsanthin (carotenoid)35.0%
Not aroma but colour — the brick-red signature pigment.
- Beta-carotene8.0%
Orange carotenoid underpinning, supports the red.
- 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine0.2%
Green bell-pepper note, traces only — the whisper of the fresh pod.
Versus other peppers
| Pepper | Capsaicin | Oil |
|---|---|---|
★ Espelette AOP (Gorria) Labourd · measured, fruity heat | 4,000 SHU | 0.04% |
Pimentón Dulce (La Vera) Caceres · smoked, sweet | 500 SHU | 0.005% |
Pimentón Picante Caceres · smoked, hot | 3,000 SHU | 0.03% |
Aleppo pepper Syria · sun-dried, fruitier | 10,000 SHU | 0.1% |
Cayenne Generic · ten times the punch | 40,000 SHU | 0.4% |
Cuisines
How the world cooks with it.
3 signature dishes
In the Labourd, espelette is the house seasoning — where Provence reaches for thyme, the Basque reaches for this brick-red dust.
- Axoa de veaugrade: gorria-espelette
Minced veal shoulder stewed with onion, green pepper and espelette — eaten with potatoes.
- Piperadegrade: gorria-espelette
Slow-cooked peppers, tomato and onion finished with eggs and a pinch of espelette.
- Poulet basquaisegrade: gorria-espelette
Braised chicken in piperade sauce, espelette stirred in at the finish.
Around the world
What it's called, from Phnom Penh to Palermo.
🇨🇳 Chinesezh
埃斯佩莱特辣椒
🇬🇧 Englishen
Espelette Pepper
🇫🇷 Frenchfr
Piment d'Espelette
🇩🇪 Germande
Espelette-Pfeffer
🇮🇳 Hindihi
एस्पेलेट मिर्च
🇮🇹 Italianit
Peperoncino di Espelette
🇯🇵 Japaneseja
エスプレット唐辛子
🇵🇹 Portuguesept
Pimenta de Espelette
🇪🇸 Spanishes
Pimiento de Espelette
Seasonality
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Peak harvestTail harvestStored, available
Pairings
Protein
- Axoa de veau
- Marmitako
- Bayonne ham
Plant
- Piperade
Sweet
- Dark chocolate
Frequent questions
Two things: terroir and law. The AOP, granted in 2000 and confirmed at EU level in 2002, restricts production to ten communes of the Labourd — Espelette, Itxassou, Ainhoa, Cambo-les-Bains, Halsou, Jatxou, Larressore, Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, Souraide and Ustaritz — and allows only the Gorria cultivar. Every pod is hand-picked, strung, air-dried on facades, then oven-finished and stone-ground. Generic chile powder has none of those constraints.