Harissa

A paste named for pounding

Harissa is a hot chilli paste from Tunisia. Wikipedia traces the name to the Arabic root harasa, meaning to pound or break into pieces, a reference to the mortar used to crush chillies. The same root gives the older Arabic word harisa, a dish of pounded grain and meat, but the chilli paste is the one the Tunisian name refers to today.

The paste follows the arrival of chillies in North Africa. Wikipedia connects its origin to chillies reaching Tunisian cooking through the Columbian exchange, probably during the Spanish occupation of Hafsid Tunisia between 1535 and 1574. That is a presumed date, not a documented first recipe, and other sources give later dates for cultivation, so the origin period is best treated as uncertain.

Where it is made

Cap Bon is the traditional centre. Wikipedia says peppers were first grown there and names Nabeul as the main production centre. Chillies grown around Nabeul and Gabes, including the Baklouti variety, are often used. The Nabeul Harissa Festival is usually held in October.

Modern production is large. Tunisian production was about 22,000 tonnes in 2006, using about 40,000 tonnes of peppers, according to a figure cited in the Wikipedia article. In December 2022 UNESCO added harissa to Tunisia's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

How the paste is built

The base is red pepper. Traditional Tunisian recipes use sun-dried peppers, picked when red, threaded and dried in the sun over the summer. Modern recipes often use roasted red peppers instead, so the paste can be made without a drying step.

Spices are added after the peppers are pounded. Caraway, coriander and cumin are the most often named, with garlic and salt as standard. Olive oil binds the paste and carries its oil-soluble flavour. Recipes differ by household and region, and some add fermented onions or lemon juice.

The household tradition

UNESCO's nomination describes the household practice as peppers dried in the sun, split, destemmed and deseeded, then washed, ground with salt, garlic and coriander, and stored in glass or pottery. It places the work in family and neighbourhood knowledge-sharing, and the listing recognises that practice rather than any one recipe. The process passage was available only as an indexed excerpt, so it gives no pepper mass, salt ratio, drying time or storage validation.

An Associated Press report from Nabeul describes one cook's Baklouti-pepper harissa that includes vinegar. That differs from the UNESCO excerpt, which names no vinegar. Neither should be read as a universal recipe.

Canned harissa is another product

The Tunisian canning industry body GICA describes canned harissa as concentrated fresh red pepper with garlic and spices. A 2015 UNIDO and CITET technical assessment of one SICAM product quotes a five-part composition: 87% pepper puree, 4% garlic, 4% coriander, 3% salt and 2% caraway, and describes industrial concentration, heating, filling and canning. That is a product-specific report and a secondary quotation of a standard, not instructions for home canning, and its figures do not transfer to a household paste made from dried peppers.

Variants

Harissa souri, a commercial style, uses fresh chillies and is looser, closer to a sauce. The home version is called harissa diari. Libyan maseer, made from powdered sweet and hot peppers and crushed garlic, is a related paste that sometimes includes caraway, cumin, lemon juice and salt. In Israel and Libya, filfel chuma is described as very similar to harissa.

Commercial harissa is sold in jars, cans, bottles and tubes, and its heat, texture and spicing differ between brands. Some Moroccan cooks prefer a milder paste that suits the dishes they serve.

Using it and keeping it

Harissa is stirred into stews, couscous and grilled dishes, or spread on bread with olive oil. PAMPAT, the Tunisian promotion body, describes it stirred with olive oil and served with bread and used in soups, pasta, grilled meat and sandwiches. A small amount brings heat without a long cooking step. Keep it cool and covered.

Home-made harissa has no established shelf life, and the oil-bound paste is not a validated preserve. Keep it refrigerated and use it within a short time. Sun drying, a layer of oil or the name harissa does not establish an ambient-stable process.