Collection: Our long <tc>peppers</tc>

Long pepper is a plant in the family Piperacea with fruits that are very small for a pepper plant, arranged in a spike-like growth habit. The best-known types are Indian and Javanese long pepper, Piper longum. and Piper retrofractum. Long pepper is a snow-covered peppersFurthermore, the pepper market has been dominated since the seventeenth century by the dried round berries of Piper nigrum (black pepper) and, since the eighteenth century, its most formidable competitor: the Capsicum or chili pepper.

In the period before that, spices were scarce and expensive, and many spices from Asia, mostly India, were transported overland due to a lack of transport options. - larger ships only came later - and skills. For how could you sail the East with the prevailing wind direction during the monsoon season?

The prevailing peppers In the Middle Ages and before, African pepper, called grain of paradise, and long pepper, which was used as medicine until the sixth century following Indian Ayurveda, were only subsequently also used as a flavoring. Only then did long pepper become a popular culinary ingredient in Greek and Roman cuisine, and from there in the rest of Europe.

Slowly but surely, long pepper is regaining a place alongside black pepper, particularly the varieties grown in India and Indonesia. In this respect, long pepper follows the tradition of black pepper. Honesty compels us to say that not all long peppers peppers those that come from there can match the 'little' tall ones in terms of taste peppers from elsewhere, which have the disadvantage of being scarcer and more expensive. History repeats itself.

We currently supply two varieties of Piper retrofractum, distinguished by the blushing red color of ripening: the Japanese pipatsu and the Cambodian long pepper, originating from the same region as the famous Kampot pepper, and one type of Piper longum, from Binh Duong in Vietnam. The supply of Japanese pipatsu and The Binh duong is temporarily 'complicated'. Therefore, we are currently only supplying the long red one. Kampot pepper.

We are missing two other long ones from this overview. peppers, the African Piper capense (Cape long pepper), and Assam pepper, the blackberry-shaped long pepper, which is even more complex in flavor than the spike-shaped long pepper peppers. Despite a very long search, we have not yet succeeded in a high-quality and to obtain reasonably affordable Cape long pepper. The search continues unabated. We do, however, offer the Assam pepper, the Piper mulesua.

Give this other pepper a try. Enjoy its warm, earthy aromas and its complexity that long peppers makes it ideally suited for use in curries and stews (whole, broken, or ground), but also lends itself perfectly to use as a substitute for black pepper in the pepper grinderIn that case, it is recommended to first crush the ear and remove the spindle.

How Are you grinding a long pepper?

Just like nutmeg, you can grind long pepper by grating it, for example using a small Microplane grater, which you moreover, you can use it for garlic and ginger. Or our Billund nutmeg grinder, with its practical twist mechanism. With it, you are guaranteed to keep your fingers safe and waste little pepper!