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Minorcan Datil Pepper Vinegar
Minorcan Datil

Datil Pepper Vinegar: at least half the 8-ounce bottle is filled with whole datil peppers! The vinegar happily fills in the spaces and becomes mildly and unusually flavored by this rare pepper. That’s all there is to it: vinegar and a couple dozen datil peppers. Used by all the locals in the St. Augustine, Florida area to put on their collards, beans and mustard greens, this vinegar isn’t volcanic, just tongue tingling.

I used it in tuna salad instead of lemon juice and it gave a depth of flavor along with the needed citrusy spike that was remarkable. Its next incarnation will be in vinaigrette and as part of a marinade… and when the vinegar is all gone, all I have to do is add more vinegar of choice to the bottle of peppers… almost like a magic bottle that is never empty!

New flavor combinations could easily be obtained by adding different flavored vinegars and you can have fun trying the endless permutations. I like that the bottle is smaller than most vinegar bottles as it takes up less space on the shelf, or it makes a small, but unusual statement on your countertop or table.

In case you didn’t know, the datil is only grown in the St. Augustine area. You can get a feeling of what the nation’s oldest city looks like from the charming sketch on the bottle. It shows the old lighthouse, the old wall around the city, and a Caribbean inspired house that is typical of the area. No matter whether you use this on collard or mustard greens or find new uses and vinegar combinations, this is a vinegar bottle loaded with whole datil peppers that everyone should have on their shelf when they want a tiny, tongue tingling depth of surprising flavor. This is a rare flavor hoarded by the locals…until now.