Ñora Pepper

The ñora chile is a small, round, sun-dried red pepper variety of Capsicum annuum in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Strung into garlands and dried in the sun along the coasts of Spain, it turns deep ruby red and takes on a sweet, earthy, gently smoky flavor with next to no heat, around 500 Scoville units. The dried pods are often soaked in hot water with their soft, bright pulp scraped out. That pulp is the backbone of Catalan romesco sauce, the lift in a Mediterranean sofrito, and the color and depth in Murcian and Alicante rice dishes like caldero. When they’re ground rather than rehydrated, the ñora becomes sweet pimentón (paprika).