Bukovo and red pepper

The old Florinians used peppers to make red pepper and bukovo. And since black pepper, which they bought from grocery stores, was expensive, they preferred their own red pepper. But our pepper was better and they made it at home or bought it at the bazaar. The way to prepare it is simple. They dried the red peppers, sweet and hot, roasted them in the oven and then pounded them in a mortar.
Pepper was sweet for cooking or hot for appetite. Many times they mixed it and achieved the taste they desired. But the best pepper was made by the women of the village of Bukovo, which is outside the Monastery, on the road to Florina. They made the best pepper and everyone preferred it, so the hot red pepper was called “bukovo”, that is, it took the name of the village, where the best and tastiest hot pepper was made.
In southern Greece they didn’t know pepper or hot red pepper. The unknown taste of pepper and hot pepper charmed some and others not. Those who didn’t like hot food used to say the phrase: “You get burned twice from bukovo…”. Bukovo, however, and spicy food in general, is an excellent anti-depressant and is good for circulation.

SOURCE: https://neaflorina.gr/2020/10/to-mpoykovo-kai-oi-piperies-florinis
TEXT: Dimitris Mekasis