In the late summer, early autumn most of the houses in southern Calabria will have strings of peperoncino hanging from their houses to dry out and be used in the winter months. This area of southern Italy first started eating peperoncino as it was meant to be a deterrent for malaria carrying mosquitos. Malaria has long since left the region but the love of peperoncino has remained. Peperoncino has become a bit of an obsession in Calabria and is now believed to be an aphrodisiac, openly being sold as such in many tourist shops in the region. There is even a peperoncino festival in Daimante every September where products are sold, including the now famous 'La Bomba Calabrese 'which is a paste made with olive oil and the hottest of the years peperoncini . This year the dates are the 10th - 14th September.
