Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying Pepper

The Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper is one of the foods being featured in the Chefs Collaborative/Slow Food USA Foods at Risk/Renewing America's Food Traditions (RAFT) Grow-out, and is on the Slow Food Ark of Taste.

Mr. Nardello's pepper was originally from Basilicata, in the south of Italy, and he brought it with him from Italy while immigrating to Connecticut in 1887.  

The pepper is sweet and light when eaten raw.  It is considered one of the very best frying peppers as its fruity raw flavor becomes perfectly creamy and soft when fried.

Be on the lookout for the Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper at local farmers markets and restaurants around Rhode Island at harvest time.  And, if you'd like to grow it yourself, you can purchase seeds at Seed Savers Exchange.