Piment d'Espelette A.O.C. is an entire French Basque town and 30 kilometer area's enterprise raising the HOT HOT HOT red peppers that emigrated from Mexico during Christopher Columbus' travels. This stuff is precious (and precarious to get a hold of due to its geographic location). During certain times of the year all the towns in the area are draped in peppers drying. So red peppers and white buildings are the order of the day until it comes to the Basque colors, which are red and green.

La Maison du Piment is owned by Vincent Darrichon and located in the town of Ustaritz, in the Basque country. La Maison du Piment is vertically integrated. That is to say that they raise and process the Espelette peppers. Needless to say, all the action takes place in the fall when the peppers are air dried often in an open ended green house to keep the rain off. The air is filled with the sweet pepper smell that hints of the gustatory delight to follow. We carry several of his Espelette products in addition to the AOC Espelette powder. Mr. Darrichon has proven to have a refined and restrained pallet, and these products reflect the best quality of the Espelette pepper.

About the AOC. This assures us that what we are buying is what we receive! Once again, we are looking at a guaranteed provenance.