Crushed red pepper or red pepper flakes is a condiment or spice[1] consisting of dried and crushed (as opposed to ground) red chili peppers.
This condiment is most often produced from cayenne-type peppers, although commercial producers may use a variety of different cultivars, usually within the 30,000–50,000 Scoville unit range.[2]
The village of Bukovo, North Macedonia, is often credited with the creation of crushed red pepper.[citation needed] The name of the village—or a derivative of it—is now used as a name for crushed red pepper in general in a number of Southeast European languages: “буковска пипер/буковец” (bukovska piper/bukovec, Macedonian), “bukovka” (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene) and “μπούκοβο” (búkovo, Greek).
Crushed red pepper shakers have become a standard on tables at Mediterranean restaurants—and especially pizza parlors—around the world.[3] Often there is a high ratio of seeds, which are popularly believed to contain the most spice. Crushed red pepper is used by food manufacturers in pickling blends, chowders, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, soups and sausage.
Crushed red pepper in Turkey, served as a common condiment with very few seeds, is known as pul biber in English. One specially prepared variety of it is the urfa pul biber (isot).
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