Roland Foods Calabrian Chili Peppers in Vinegar, Specialty Imported Food, 17.5 Ounce, Pack of 1

I fell in love with Calabrian peppers when I made a walnut pesto recipe that called for them. The flavor is complex, fruity, and a little bit smoky. The heat sneaks up on you, because it seems to hit your throat before your lips or tongue warn you what is coming, but there is a big load of flavor traveling with the spiciness.What I didn't love was paying almost $9 for less than 7 ounces of peppers in oil at my supermarket. So I tried Amazon.It turned out that prices weren't much better here unless I bought very large quantities. These Roland peppers were easily the best value -- but they were packed in vinegar. I was worried they wouldn't be a suitable replacement for the oil-packed peppers.After reading the comments, I decided to follow the advice to drain the peppers and repack them in oil. After a couple weeks in a cupboard, the peppers were even better than the oil-packed peppers from the market, because I used all olive oil instead of the blend of sunflower and olive oils in the market version.I usually dice them very finely so the heat and flavor are distributed through a dish. A favorite use is in pizza sauce for homemade pizza.A big bonus is the now-flavored oil that let's me easily add Calabrian pepper flavor to any dish that I think will benefit from it. I only have one teaspoon to clean up rather than a knife and cutting board.

My first time buying these and I love these peppers. I use in sauces, stir-fry and stews. Yummy!

Made my own oil and pepper paste. Came perfectly sealed.

This is the best deal you'll find online for real calabrian chiles. Most others are packed in oil and will give you a lot less for your money. I buy this pack and then drain the vinegar and save it in a bottle to make marinades and dressings. Then I put the drained chiles into a mason jar and fill with olive oil. Within a few days the olive oil will take on the flavor of the chiles and is a WONDERFUL drizzle for pizzas and pastas when you want to kick up the heat just a little but don't want the full punch of diced chiles.The chiles themselves are fantastic - we love them in just about anything, but especially in a cioppino or diced in panini.Watch out though - they have some heat along with their wonderful flavor.

Likes: Beautiful rich colors of sinfully skinned reds and the oils hands so sensually wrapped around the peppers. As the peppers erect their Adonis fiery red flesh out of the bedding of soothing oil. I, so quietly say yes, then again Yes and finally shrillin YES!Dislikes: I must say I only bit once, no it was twice. IMMEDIATELY every cavity on my body pinched. All my external body parts crawled, then imploded as far into myself as they could. I sweated with such fever! My eyes and nose dripped. Yet nothing compared to the feeling of burning flames from the kiss of the devil's peppered kiss.Never again, no more will I ruin my dinner and incapacitate my mouth. Never again.

Problem is the texture, it's like leather.The flavor is great, and the heat is mild, less than a Hungarian Wax.Maybe I got a bad batch? I doubt it... if you look closely at the pic, you can "see" the texture.I have canned/pickled peppers since I was a kid helping my mom. Our peppers were/are crisp, 2-3 years after we processed them.My guess is these peppers were processed after they began to dry. Believe me when I say, you don't wanna do that!I will use them in a sauce or chili, something that I simmer for hours. Definitely not suitable for a quick sauce or fried 'taters 'n' onions!

Very nice chile’s. They are medium heat, based on Scoville ranking of 25-40K units, which is just above the Serrano. For comparison, the jalapeño is about 8k Scoville units. I drained them, discarded the vinegar- even though it would have made a nice marinade, I’d have no one to share the meal with as all my friends and family think black pepper is spicy. Alas, I’m alone in this love of spicy food. They’ve been marinating in this jar combined with a nice extra virgin olive oil (I didn’t buy anything special, just what I had in the pantry) for the past six weeks and finally opened it and drizzled it on some mozzarella, prosciutto, and bread and it is wonderful. I like spice so this was not overwhelming (or even a challenge) but for others, it will be quite spicy. Enjoy it.

Since the packaging is not resealable and it's full of vinegar, you need to either use it up immediately or transfer it to a different container or process it like I did. I put it in the food processor with some and oil and salt and made a paste out of it which fit in a small jar and I kept the vinegar in a bottle for different use.