Ajvar ([?j.?a:r], Serbian Cyrillic: aj???; Bulgarian: a????; Macedonian: a????) is a pepper-based condiment made principally from red bell peppers. It may also contain garlic, eggplant and chili peppers. Ajvar is used in the Balkans in Gottscheerich, Slovenian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian cuisine. In Serbia, it was long known as "Serbian salad" or "Serbian vegetable caviar". It became a popular side dish throughout ex-Yugoslavia after World War II and is nowadays popular in Southeastern Europe.
Homemade ajvar is made of roasted or cooked peppers. Depending on the capsaicin content in bell peppers and the amount of added chili peppers, it can be sweet (traditional), piquant (the most common), or very hot (ljutenica). Ajvar can be consumed as a bread spread or as a side dish. If it contains tomato, then it is called pindjur.
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Etymology and origin
The name ajvar comes from the Turkish word havyar, which means "salted roe, caviar" shares an etymology with "caviar". Prior to the 20th century, there was a significant local production of caviar on the Danube, with sturgeon swimming from the Black Sea up to Belgrade. Domestic ajvar, meaning "caviar", used to be a very popular dish in Belgrade homes and restaurants. However, the domestic production of caviar was not steady starting in the 1890s because of labor disputes, and eventually a special pepper salad was offered as a substitute in Belgrade restaurants under the name "red ajvar" (crveni ajvar) or "Serbian ajvar" (srpski ajvar).
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Preparation
Homemade ajvar is made of roasted peppers, while some industrial producers use cooked peppers, which leads to a lower quality. The preparation of ajvar is somewhat difficult, as it involves a great amount of manual labour, especially related to peeling the roasted peppers. Traditionally, it is prepared in mid-autumn, when bell peppers are most abundant, and is conserved in glass jars for consumption throughout the year--though in most households stocks do not last until the spring, when fresh salads start to emerge anyway, so it is usually enjoyed as a winter food. Often, the whole family or neighbours gather to bake the bell peppers, peel them, and cook them. The principal cultivar of pepper used is called roga (i.e. "horned"). Roga is large, red, horn-shaped, with thick flesh and relatively easy to peel. It typically ripens in late September.
In order to produce ajvar, bell peppers and aubergines (eggplants) are roasted whole on a plate on an open fire, a plate of wood in a stove, or in an oven. The baked peppers must briefly rest in a closed dish, to allow them to cool and to allow the flesh to separate from the skin. Next, the skin is carefully peeled off and the seeds are removed. The peppers are then ground in a mill or chopped into tiny pieces (this variant is often referred to as Pindjur). Finally, the resulting mush is stewed for a couple of hours in large pots. Sunflower oil and garlic are added at this stage in order to condense and reduce the water, as well as to enhance later conservation. Salt (and sometimes also vinegar) is added at the end and the hot mush is poured directly into glass jars, which are sealed immediately.
Production
Ajvar is produced in various countries, including Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. For Serbia, the reported annual Serbian production is 640 tons.
Ajvar is one of the so-called zimnica (winter foods), which include pickled chili peppers, pickled tomatoes, and anything else that can fit in a jar that gets prepared just before winter.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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