Your Guide to Authentic Regional Eats
Datil peppers have long been a locally-favored backyard crop in the St. Augustine area, originally brought to the area in the late 18th century in the hands of Minorcans who came to work the once-ubiquitous indigo fields and finally settled in St. Augustine. The exact history is murky, but it is possible they picked up the peppers somewhere in the Caribbean, as there are none in Spain. Few people beyond the city of the Fountain of Youth ever heard of them until the 1980s, when Chris Way began putting datil pepper sauce on the tables of his restaurant, Barnacle Bill's. Customers liked it so much that he created the first successful line of datil pepper products, the Dat'l Do-It brand; and he has since left the restaurant behind.
