Thanks, but no salad bar in my Kroger--very rural area and it's the "upscale" grocery" as compared to Walmart--though it's hugely deteriorated in the last 10 years.

I don't know how crazy you want to go, but I looked at Amazon, and you can order them. Maybe use the pepperoncini, but reduce the amount? It might be worth a shot. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I do order more often than I would like from Amazon. And the pickled peppadews are pretty expensive too.

I googled and a substitute suggested was pimentos.

What is the role of the peppadews in the recipe? They definitely do have a sweet flavor component. Conceivably sweeten the peperoncini brine a little bit. Quite similar to the difference between sweet and dill pickles.

A little research revealed no peppadew at Kroger at all and the pimentos are not pickled, so I think I will use a little less of the pepperoncini and add a little honey.

I espcially liked it because it also included greens, which I freeze from my garden. It called for fresh spinach, but adding frozen chard or even collards will work just fine.

If anyone is interested in the recipe, I'll post it. It's from the Nov issue of Real Simple and is called Tomato-Braised Butter Beans and Greens.

I think that's a good solution.

Peppadews are from South Africa and come in jars either hot and mild versions. Both are sweet and sour in flavour. They are always small, round and red. I usually have some in the pantry. They do make a tasty and distinctive addition to tomato dishes.

On the other hand I've never had peperoncini.

Here's how the internet describes them:

"Peppadew" is the trademarked brand name for the primary company that produces these sweet, spicy, and tangy pickled Juanita piquanté peppers. Peppadews are small red (and sometimes yellow) peppers. They're mostly sweet with a slight tinge of heat; the Peppadew brand describes their peppers as "sweet piquanté," so sweet and a little spicy.

I'm dubious about the existence of yellow peppadews. I've never seen them and the Peppadew company website doesn't mention them. There are two versions. Hot and mild (described as sweet). They are piquante and sweet, as in sugar sweet rather than mild. We eat them quite frequently. They're good in a cheese sandwich, with a salad or to add piquancy to tomato dishes. I just eat them out of the jar sometimes.

I've purchased Pepperoncini from Dollar Tree. And ....they carry pickled red bell peppers in a glass jar. Also Walmart has jarred

red peppers...to use as a substitute....

Why not just use some fresh sweet peppers and add a little vinegar?

I think I'm going to stick with pepperoncini and a little honey.

Thanks, everyone.

They'fe not all that sweet, so I suggest very little honey to start with...

I'm wondering if I'm the only commenter who actually eats Pepperdew regularly? It's hard to describe the taste but it isn't like red peppers and vinegar. Nor like pickled roasted red peppers. If I had to make a substitute I might just use sun dried tomatoes in oil with a dash of chilli. I can't comment on peperoncini because I've not eaten them. But are they sweet?

No pepperoncini aren't sweet. They're spicy, but nothing like jalapenos. The pickling liquid isn't sweet either. I have used them in a beef recipe that called for the peppers and a little liquid. I imagine they're different from peppadews, but I still think they'd be good in the bean recipe.

Sounds interesting, I'd like to see the recipe... I've have added pepperdew to my shopping list, I have 2 groceries with very good pickle aisles.

I still have leftover turkey, we are thinking of a nice bright lemony soup for tonight - and my refrig door includes calabrian, I know those are spicy ! We forget to use our pickles, no idea why because we really like them, especially dh.

I have collards that are cleaned and ready to go, so maybe I can copy some of the ideas/flavors from Tomato-Braised Butter Beans and Greens for my soup tonight. thanks!

Floral, I've eaten them, but haven't cooked with them. I prefer fresh peppers, but they grow here.

From the Peppadew website:

Ingredients;

Piquanté Peppers (31 %), Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Salt, Antioxidants: Citric Acid & Ascorbic Acid, Firming Agent: Calcium Chloride.

Yellow ones:

That makes sense. But we eat fresh peppers too...

Are these the same as what you all are talking about? Once in a while I get them in a dish in a restaurant and love them, but have never been able to find them in the stores. They are tiny and could easily be mistaken for a teeny tomato. The jars of peppadew that I see on this thread and on A..zon seem much larger, but am not sure.

DeLallo Sweet & Tangy Pepper Drops, Red Mini Peruvian Peppers in Zesty Vinegar Marinade, Gourmet Condiment for Charcuterie and Salads, Non-GMO, Vegan, Kosher, 4.3 oz. Jar, (3 Pack)

Olychick, they have those house packed from bulk in the deli sections of places I shop. I can never remember the name, but Annie knows. They're a different pepper, but in some ways a similar product.

Here's the recipe modified for more experience cooks for brevity.

Tomato-Braised Butter Beans & Greens

8 1/2" thick slices baguette

3 Tb. olive oil, divided

3 large cloves garlic

1 1/3 c. chopped yellow onion

2 c vegetgable broth

1 28 oz can tomatoes

1 15 oz cans butter or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 t each kosher salt and black pepper

1 c pickled Peppadew peppers plus 1/4 c liquid

1 5oz pkg baby spinach, roughly chopped

Parmesan cheese for garnish

Brush baguette slices with 1 t oil and bake on sheet in 450 degree oven for 5-7 mins. Rub 1 garlic clove onto bread. Set aside.

Slice remaining 2 garlic cloves. Heat remaining 2 T oil. large skillet. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until translucent, 5-6 mins.

Add broth and tomatoes, breaking up tomatoes into smaller pieces. Bring to boil, stir in beans, salt, pepper, and Peppadew peppers. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer until sauce is thickened, 15-20 mins.

Remove from heat and stir in Peppadew liquid. Stir in spinach until wilted. Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with parmesan. Serve with toasts.

NB: I have chard frozen from my garden and will add that at the end of the cooking period to replace the spinach.

Here are some leftover from Thanksgiving Day – we always get them around the holidays for antipasto and I particularly like them alongside a chunk of Ricotta Salata. Pre-pandemic they were available at the salad bar which disappeared – now they are sold pre-packaged (Wegmans).

Those are the exact thing, Raymond.

Funny story – our Thanksgiving guests arrived a full day – that’s 24 hours early. All our timing for the big day was thrown off completely. As a result, by the time we were setting up the antipasto (still out of breath) – some items in the refrigerator were overlooked. I can’t complain.

@laceyvail 6A, WV

It may be moot at this point, but I would consider Mild Sweet Cherry peppers as a substitute for Peppadews. Krogers carries the Mezzetta brand. jmo

@Olychick

As a side note, and only a guess, but I think the pepper you are referring to appears to be the pickled version of the Biquinho pepper, native to Brazil. jfyi

You might try the pickled banana peppers my husband likes. You can get presliced or whole. They come in mild or hot.

Yep, I have banana peppers too. Always used to get the hot ones, but with age a long standing condition I have no longer is happy with spicy food (I'm devastated since many, many of my favorite recipes are pretty spicy) but I can eat mild bananas.

From all comments, it appears that Peppadews are unique in their flavor profile but the recipe should certainly be acceptable with a range of substitutes--and maybe a little bit of honey.

@raymondz7a Wow! did your guests look at the calendar wrong???

@olychick - it seems nobody knows how it happened and nobody wants to talk about it, but we were certainly caught unawares. Fortunately, we completed all our shopping on Tuesday.

For those who can find peppadews, pipe to fill with beaten chevre. Chopped green herb garnish for festive color.

I once spent ages filling peppadews with cream cheese for a buffet. Not a success for me. The cheese went too soft and lacked the flavour to fight the peppers. I decided the time it took wasn't worth the result. Maybe I should have tried a strong goat cheese instead. Or just skewered a cube of cheese with a pepper. Much quicker and probably tastier.

I have always referred to peppers as "sweet" if they are not "hot" peppers. I would never have considered the "sweet" ones as being sweet from natural sugar, rather, it means that they are just not hot. I would not assume that adding honey or sugar would be the things to do. You are not looking for "sweet" from the peppers.

We use the term "sweet" to meana few different things in talking about food. Two that come to mind easily are "sweet milk" or "sweet water". Sweet milk vs that that has been cultured, such as buttermilk . And, sweet water as in water that is fresh and potable. So dont take the word "sweet" wrong in this case. "Sweet" peppers are ones that are not hot. The level of natural sweetness is not dependent on how hot the pepper is. It may vary from one variety to another but it not actual sweetness that it is referring to.

I would sub pickled cherry peppers and not worry too much about the variety of pepper.

Matter of fact, I would use fresh peppers in that recipie or roasted red peppers that are not pickled.

I buy good peppers at the farm in the summer and I cut them and sautee them and keep them in a jar in the fridge. That way they will keep longer and better and they are always handy to add in to things as they are just lightly cooked.

That is a basic pasta fagioli, or, as my hubs Italian family calls it...."pasta vazool" . This is pretty much that. Although I dont use any broth of any kind, but I do use whole tomatoes for this .Tomato sauce is just too thick for this, in my opinion.

Now that I am the grandmother of this Italian family, I have added my own quirks to it and I often will add in some roasted or sauteee peppers of any sort, and I also add in carrots and wil throw in some spinach if I have them. Generally there is pasta with it but bread is fine, too, or a bit of both.

I dont have any recipie, just the way I do it. But I also use fennel seed in many of such things as this, and oregano, or a spoonfull of pesto if I have it and/ or fresh basil if it available .

Italian MIL used the jarred pickled cherry peppers with pork chops.

Pickling the peppers was more about preserving them for off season. And, so they added pickled ones in place of fresh and with a bit of a difference, due to the salt and vinegar.

Yes, sweet is used that way for Italian sausage--you have hot or sweet.

But I think that recipe depends on the peppers being pickled, and the kick from them and the pickling liquid. I have other similar recipes that do not call for peppers--pickled or otherwise--or pickling liquid. Two different takes.

Peppadews are definitely sweet in the sugary sense. They come in two versions, mild and piquante but all are sweet. The product is South African and the variety of pepper used was discovered there, as was the pickling recipe, so comparisons with Italian cuisine aren't really relevant imo. The Peppadews and their liquid would add a unique sweet sour element. I've often used the liquid to add that flavour to dishes. I do wonder if some posters have ever eaten Peppadews

I love cooking with cherry pepoers. They're nothing like Peppadews in the cooking/eating. Perhaps a little more than the OP's pepperoncini, but she's satisfied with her substitution of thinner fleshed, spicier pickled peppers and sweetener.

Floral, I'd love to hear how you use the Peppadew liquid! I've used regular dill pickle liquid on the potatoes for potato salad (which I learned in CF), and spicy pickle liquid with all its whole flavor ingredients in bread, but I've never known what to do with sweet pickle liquid.

Pillog, I think most potato salad recipes call for sweet pickle liquid--bread and butter pickles or relish.

Really? I've never had--or maybe remembered--sweetened potato salad. I've used briny pickle liquid and gotten a nice tang. Tang is what I'm looking for in potato salad, and the pickle juice while the potatoes are warm was the key to tasting like my favorite from the deli. I wonder if it's regional, like sweet tea, (I get it that that's the "right" way in the South, but I highly dislike most sugary beverages, and can't swallow sweet tea.)

I don't anything too sweet either, hate sweet tea, but here at least I've tasted potato salad that's disgustingly sweet. Coleslaw too. Inedible for me.

I just slosh it into things like ragù, stews or whatever for a bit of extra flavour. I wouldn't use it in potato salad which I make either with vinaigrette or mayonnaise. I never add anything sweet to it.

Thanks! I get the punch of flavor thing, and if you have nicely acidic tomatoes, a little sugar helps molify them. ;) Our tomatoes have gotten too sweet!

floral, I was not compairing the cusine . I was pointing out that some seem to be talking about different things when talking of sweet vs hot. But this bean dish IS a basic tomato based bean soup kind of thing, just like pasta with beans ,pasta fagioil. And the pickled peppers ARE used in Italian hot dishes. complete with the vinegar.

I really doubt that it is going to make enough difference to go to all that trouble to get a certain pepper. I think the essential element here is the fact that you are adding ripe pickled peppers with vinegar to the pot. I dont think that the variety of pepper is going to be all that critical. Sure , if you have them available to you, that is one thing. But I doubt it is critical to the finished product and especailly to something that you have no preconcieved notion of how you want it to taste . If you have them, use them. If you dont have them ...sub and no one is going to know the difference. As long as you get that pickling vinegar in there along with the peppers, you are good to go.

Maybe teh pappdew peppers were chosen because of they are small so they are perfect size and they add a bit of sweet because they are red and ripe. And, they would also add visual appeal.

But SWEET refers to the fact that it is not HOT, and having a full compliment of sweet in the flesh of the pepper is from the fact that it is ripe.

Hubs eats the hot peppers, mostly habaneros. I give him at least two raw and uncut habaneros on his dinner plate every day. He found that those varieties of chilis that are bred for hotness are often not the ones with the best flavor.

Sorry, but in this case sweet does not refer to the fact that they are not hot. They are literally sugar sweet. It has nothing to do with the ripeness of the fruit, it's the processing which makes them sweet. Peppadews are not just 'pickled peppers'. This is not just a question of adding pickling vinegar. Indeed the vinegar is hardly tasteable. After peppers and water, sugar is the largest ingredient. The Peppadew peppers are sold in two types: hot and not hot, ie 'sweet' in your terms but both are pickled in a sweet liquid. The hot ones are produced by adding some chilli. From experience, I know that the liquid will make a marked difference to a dish. Whether that is important is up to the cook, but it will not be the same as using a different type of pickled peppers. There's a reason the name is trade marked.

Yes, that is what I understand about the peppers, pickled with sugar.. Different from hot/sweet Italian sausage.

Then I would order the Peppadews from A if not available locally. I also saw that they have been seeded. Most other types, unless sliced, contain seeds.

There are several things now that I have to order, that used to be available in all the grocery stores. Pickled baby corn, Salsa Brava, Oregan canned fruit ( just fruit) for pies. Lucky Leaf apples. The stores only carry pie filling that is sweetened and seasoned. French’s Mustard NOT in a squeeze bottle. I want what I have always used, so I have to order.

So it is not the actual pepper that is sugar sweet, rather .it is that they are sweet pickled with sugar? So this is about sugar sweetned peppers and not those that are referred to as "sweet"due to the fact that they are not hot LIke sausage links, for instance. Hot or sweet links? We do use some odd terms for things in the English language.

As is so often pointed out....we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway and we wear a sweater when have ablsoutely no intention of doing anything of the sort. We refer to water with a lot of minerals as "hard water" and you know taht is not so. So many nuances that somtimes people are not even talking about the same thing. That is why effective communication is critical. Sometimes it can be downright comic.

So this is a "sweet pickled" pepper, processed with added sugar. Got it! There is sugar is so many things.

"So it is not the actual pepper that is sugar sweet, rather it is that they are sweet pickled with sugar? "

Exactly.

Drive way, originally, was the road within the gates to drive on to get to the door court or stables, and wasn't a place to stash an automobile--or buggy. Parkways are so called because they were originally landscaped "park" roads for scenic pleasure driving, also back in the horse and buggy days. "Sweater" was originally used by athletes in rowing to sweat off water weight, in times before the sweatshirts used for the purpose now. It was clearly stated, several times, up topic, that these are a specific product that comes in jars and is sweetened. It's easier to understand if you start by knowing what's being said.