Acacia Chili by Erich Stekovics, sweet and spicy all at once
Acacia Chili by Erich Stekovics is the chili paste where honey replaces sugar. Acacia honey, tomato vinegar, and sea salt are added to the peppers, and pectin binds the whole thing into an orange-red mass that clings to the spoon.
Acacia Chili is the sweet-and-spicy chili paste from Erich Stekovics, grown in the open fields of Burgenland, made from a variety whose scent is reminiscent of elderflowers. The honey comes from beekeepers in nearby Gols, the vinegar from his own tomatoes, and together they carry the heat.
Blossom, caramel, and a slow glow
The scent from the opened jar is deceptive, for it is floral and soft, with a hint of caramel over the warm pepper. It is only on the tongue that the impression shifts, and from the mildness grows a glow that rises slowly and lingers long.
Honey tastes different than sugar because, in addition to sweetness, it also brings notes of blossom and resin. Acacia honey is the mildest of the common varieties and therefore does not mask the fruit of the pepper. The paste remains thick and can be drawn from the spoon like a syrup.
Pectin provides this binding, the same gelling agent that holds jam together. It turns the pepper and sweetness into a spread rather than a sauce, and that is precisely the key to portioning: what stays on the spoon does not drip over the edge of the plate. Erich Stekovics warms the mixture only briefly so that the floral note does not cook away.
With aged cheese, on scampi, and with grilled food
Place a dollop next to an aged mountain cheese, and the sweetness takes on the role usually filled by fruit mustard.
The paste pairs just as well with grilled scampi and prawns as it does with lardo, where sweetness and fat elevate each other. On the grill, use it to glaze ribs in the final minutes, as fructose browns quickly and would turn bitter under prolonged heat.
In a wok, a spoonful gives Asian dishes a sweet-and-spicy edge, and a single smear is enough on a piece of cream cheese bread. Beside mild goat cheese, the floral note is most apparent because there is nothing there to counter it.
Acacia honey that doesn't actually come from the acacia
What is called acacia honey in the jar is collected by bees from the black locust, which stands as a "false acacia" at the edges of forests across half of Europe. Its blooming period lasts barely two weeks, which is why this honey is among the scarcer types and is part of the early summer work for beekeepers in Burgenland.
Its high fructose content ensures that it remains liquid for months and does not crystallize. This is exactly what Erich Stekovics needs for this paste, as a solid honey would clump during stirring instead of combining with the pepper. The tomato vinegar provides the acidity without overpowering the floral tone.
The peppers grow on the shores of Lake Neusiedl in open fields and ripen there until autumn. Only then do they develop that light, floral aroma that this paste shares in its name with the honey. Without this ripeness, the combination would be nothing more than heat on sweetness.
A jar for the cheese board
Sweetness alongside heat is a classic pairing on a cheese board; here, it is presented in an unusual way. Those looking for mildness in a jar of spice will find the most unusual representative of the range here. The rest of the spicy selection from Erich Stekovics can be found in our chili specialties, including the jam-like Tomato-Paprika Chili.
