An Italian family settled in America in the early 1900s; generations later, their family pepper still features in traditional recipes

A pepper can carry more history than its size suggests. For the Riccelli family, an Italian heirloom known as the ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ has remained tied to family cooking across several generations. The variety came to America with relatives whose roots were in Italy in the early 1900s, and its seeds were eventually passed down through the family rather than replaced with newer varieties. Today, the pepper still appears in recipes connected to that history, including a pork-stuffed dish based on the cooking of Nicholas Domenico “Nick” Riccelli.How one Italian family kept its pepper seeds aliveReportedly, Chad and Michele Ogle-Riccelli donated the ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ pepper to Seed Savers Exchange in 2015. Chad’s family history is connected to Giovanni “John” Ausilio and Rachel P. Scarcello, who immigrated from Italy to the United States in the early 1900s. Their daughter, Theresa Ausilio Riccelli, continued growing the family pepper. The seeds were not treated simply as something to plant for another season. They became part of a family tradition, kept and handed down alongside the recipes associated with them.It is a family seed, and preserving it means maintaining a link with relatives who are no longer alive as well as with those who still remember how it was grown and cooked.The family’s seed-saving tradition kept its old recipes aliveThe variety has remained part of the family’s culinary traditions long after the generation that first brought its Italian heritage to America. Seed saving made that possible in a very practical way. Rather than buying a replacement variety each year, the family continued to keep the seeds and grow the same type of pepper.Theresa has also remained connected to the food traditions surrounding the variety. The memories of her late husband, Nick, provide part of the story behind the stuffed-pepper recipe now associated with the family.Nick was interested in cooking and spent time with his mother-in-law, Rachel Scarcello, learning dishes from her family. Her approach to recipes was informal. Instead of measuring everything precisely, she used quantities described by hand, such as a handful or a pinch. Nick learned by cooking alongside her.The recipe begins with pork and herbsThe family recipe collected by Seed Savers Exchange uses six to eight of the peppers. They are filled with a mixture based on one pound of ground pork, along with garlic, salt, pepper, basil and parsley. Bread crumbs moistened with a little milk are added to the mixture, followed by two eggs. The filling also contains freshly shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano and Romano cheese. It is a fairly substantial combination, designed to sit inside the peppers rather than simply accompany them.The preparation is straightforward. The peppers are cleaned, their seeds removed and the pork mixture packed inside. They are then placed in a baking dish and covered with sauce. There is room for a family variation, too. The Riccellis sometimes add medium-sized pieces of diced potato to the dish before it goes into the oven.Baking the stuffed peppersThe oven is heated to 420°F, or about 215°C. The stuffed peppers first bake in their sauce for around 30 minutes. At that stage, fresh mozzarella and basil are added. The dish then returns to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. The total cooking time is therefore roughly 45 minutes.The recipe serves about six people and reflects the kind of cooking that can be adjusted according to what is available. Even the original instructions retain the family's informal character, with ingredients described in handfuls and pinches rather than converted into strict measurements.Preserving the pepper kept its family history intactThe ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ pepper is now preserved outside the Riccelli family as well, but its importance to the family came first. Chad and Michele's decision to donate the variety to Seed Savers Exchange gave it a place in a wider collection of heirloom seeds while retaining its connection to their own history.For the family, saving the pepper is closely tied to the people who grew it. Chad has described the seeds as belonging to his grandmother's family and as something special enough to pass to future generations.The pepper's name also preserves part of that story. “Ausilio” comes from the family line connected to Giovanni Ausilio and Theresa Ausilio Riccelli, while the variety itself remains associated with the cooking that developed around it in America.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.