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Pilpelchuma (chilli-garlic paste)

Pilpelchuma · Pilpelshuma · Filfel chuma

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A chilli and garlic paste from the Libyan Jewish community, built on steamed dried peppers, garlic and cumin, now a common condiment in Israel.

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Photograph of Pilpelchuma (chilli-garlic paste).

What the paste is

Pilpelchuma is a concentrated chilli and garlic paste. Its name means pepper garlic in Hebrew, and it is the everyday hot condiment of Libyan Jewish cooking. Its base is dried sweet and hot peppers, which are steamed so they soften before they are worked with garlic.

The texture is thick, close to tomato paste, which is what lets it sit on a plate or in a bowl as a condiment rather than a sauce to pour. Garlic is the second main ingredient. Recipes vary widely in how much they use, and one source calls for as many as twenty cloves.

Sources for this section

Migration and the Israeli table

Recipe sources associate pilpelchuma with Libyan Jewish cooking and also document its use in Israel, but they do not date when this particular condiment became common there. Historical research describes a large migration from Libya to Israel between 1949 and 1952 amid postwar violence and insecurity. After renewed violence in 1967, most of the Jews who remained relocated to Italy; some later went to Israel or elsewhere. These separate movements provide context for the diaspora, but do not establish a single forced migration of the condiment directly to Israel.

In Israel it is sold in tubes or jars, and it is also commonly made at home. In recent years it has spread to Western kitchens, for example in potato salad. The sources do not give a date for these later uses.

Sources for this section

Open questions

The sources do not agree on how close pilpelchuma is to harissa. The available material does not establish the relationship, so this page does not state one. The earliest dated record of the paste and the family recipes from Libya are not established here and need a Libyan Jewish culinary source.

Sources for this section

History

Pilpelchuma (also spelled filfel chuma) is described by recipe sources as a chilli-garlic paste associated with Libyan Jewish cooking; the word combines terms for pepper and garlic. The sources reviewed here do not date the paste's first making or the specific point when it entered Israeli cooking. The community's broader migration history is distinct: about 31,000 of roughly 36,000 Libyan Jews emigrated to Israel between 1949 and 1952 amid postwar violence, insecurity and uncertainty around independence. After renewed violence in 1967, most of the Jews who remained relocated to Italy; some later went to Israel or elsewhere. The condiment's transmission should not be collapsed into one forced mid-century migration directly to Israel.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Dried sweet and hot peppersSteamed until soft.
Amount not stated
Proportions are not given by the sources.
Garlic
Amount not stated
Recipes vary; one source calls for as many as 20 cloves.
Olive oil
Amount not stated
Ground cumin
Amount not stated
Caraway seed (optional)
Amount not stated
Lemon juice (optional)
Amount not stated
Kosher salt
To taste.

Method

  1. Steam the dried sweet and hot peppers until they are soft.
  2. Work the steamed peppers with the garlic, olive oil, cumin, caraway, lemon juice and salt into a paste with a consistency close to tomato paste.

Places

Libya

Traditional preparation · Country evidence

Wikipedia gives Libya as the place of origin and calls the paste the main condiment of Libyan Jewish cuisine; no dated source is given.

See Libyaon the mapLocation source 1 →

Israel

Documented use · Country evidence

Pilpelchuma is used in Israel in recipe sources; the date when this specific condiment entered Israeli cooking is not established. The wider community migration occurred in different waves, including emigration to Israel in 1949–1952 and the 1967 exodus, when most remaining Jews relocated first to Italy.

See Israelon the mapLocation source 1 → · Location source 2 → · Location source 3 →

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