Ajvar, also known as "the next hummus" is a red pepper and eggplant relish that can be found all throughout Macedonia. In the late-summer months of August, September, and early October, clouds of rich, intense smoke can be seen billowing from every garden and spare space of land across the country. Locals diligently grill local peppers to make Ajvar, ensuring Macedonians have a good food stock for the winter. When they’ve grilled the peppers, they mix them with salt and a little oil, and often a bit of roasted aubergine (also known as eggplant).
Ajvar is a sweet and deeply complex taste of flavors. It suits spreading onto crusty bread, mixing into plates of pasta, and baking with eggs. You can mix it with risotto, or serve it with grilled chicken, or serve it with salty cheese just as sirenje (similar to feta), or mix it into a meatball sauce. We paired it one evening with bread cheese, one of our new favorite cheeses.
For the choice of pepper for making Ajvar, we chose the Ajvarski Pepper, an outstanding roasting pepper from eastern Macedonia. These peppers are incredibly fragrant and tasty and have become a staple in our garden every year.
For the choice of eggplant for the Ajvar, we chose the Rosita Eggplant because of its mildly sweet flavor. This wonderful compact heirloom eggplant variety is native to Puerto Rico where it was discovered in the 1940s. It grew exceptionally well in our garden, especially in the late summer heat where the plant doubled in size and fruit. The skin was very tender and not bitter making it a great roasting variety.
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