Hot Ajvar – Spicy Ajvar

Hot Aivar with fiery heat from roasted peppers

Hot Aivar, the spicy version of Macedonian Ajvar, is a vegetable spread made from roasted hot peppers and eggplants by Pelagonia. It is not industrially mixed chili oil, but the same artisanal process as the mild original – just with significantly more fire.

Hot Aivar is the fiery sister of the classic Aivar, produced by the Pelagonia cooperative in the Pelagonia Valley in southwestern North Macedonia. For the 314g jar, hot red peppers are roasted over an open flame, peeled by hand, and processed with roasted eggplant, sunflower oil, and salt into a savory spread. It is worth approaching with caution, as the heat arrives with emphasis without overpowering the fruitiness.

Fiery, savory, and with a smoky finish

Hot Aivar smells of grilled peppers, with a sharp kick that only truly unfolds on the palate. The heat builds up slowly instead of striking immediately.

The taste is savory, smoky, and fruity all at once – the chili heat of the peppers meets the mild depth of the eggplant, which softens the burn somewhat. Your palate gets heat, but no pain, as the spiciness remains controlled rather than intrusive.

Darker in color than the mild original, and with the same chunky consistency: you can still taste that real peppers were used here, not chili flakes from a bag. One spoonful is usually enough, a second is fine if you like to really feel it.

With eggs, grilled meat, and sharp cheese

Stirred into scrambled eggs or shakshuka, Hot Aivar gives breakfast a wake-up call. As a marinade for lamb skewers or grilled chicken, the heat penetrates deep into the meat, and on a slice of strong mountain cheese, it turns a quiet cheese platter into a small feast. Stirred into a hearty lentil soup or spread on a burger, the paste immediately adds character to the dish.

If the heat becomes too much, opt for the mild Aivar variety from Pelagonia – both jars come from the same cooperative and follow the same recipe; only the pepper variety differs, and both can be mixed without any issues if you prefer an intermediate level of heat. Together with other vegetable spreads and creams, they fill an entire shelf in our shop with Balkan meze.

Hot peppers and the same artisanal craft

Like the mild original, Hot Aivar comes from Pelagonia, the brand that Philip Evans launched in 2012 together with his partner Andrej from North Macedonia – a craft that, as Philip Evans describes it, has remained unchanged to this day. For the spicy variety, the cooperative selects a fierier type of pepper, and it is roasted just like the mild version: over an open flame until the skin is black.

Around 650 smallholder families from the Pelagonia Valley supply the harvest. The final recipe consists of 70 percent hot peppers and 20 percent eggplant, with sunflower oil and salt – nothing else. With 300 sunny days a year, the peppers that ripen there are known throughout the Balkans for their intensity – and the heat is created entirely without the addition of chili powder or extract, coming solely from the pepper variety itself.

Two jars, one cooperative, one recipe that Pelagonia has been varying with just one ingredient of extra heat since 2012 – for everyone who finds the mild Aivar a bit too tame.