Long pepper is a plant in the Piperacea family with very small fruits for a pepper plant in a spike-shaped growth habit. The best-known varieties are the Indian and Javanese long pepper, Piper longum. and Piper retrofractum. Long pepper is an under-appreciated pepper variety; the pepper market has been dominated since the seventeenth century by the dried round berries of the Piper nigrum (black pepper), and since the eighteenth century by its most formidable competitor: the Capsicum or chili pepper.
In the preceding period, spices were scarce and expensive, and many spices from Asia, mostly India, were transported overland due to lack of transport facilities Larger ships only came later—and skills. How could you sail east with the prevailing wind direction during the monsoon season?
The dominant peppers in the Middle Ages and before were African pepper, called "paradise grain," and long pepper, which was used as a medicine until the sixth century, following the Indian Ayurveda, and only later as a seasoning. Only then did long pepper become a popular culinary ingredient in Greek and Roman cuisine, and from there, throughout Europe.
The long pepper is slowly regaining a place alongside black pepper, particularly the varieties grown in India and Indonesia. In this respect, the long pepper follows in the tradition of black pepper. To be fair, not all long peppers from these regions can compete in flavor with the "small" long 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 their blushing red color when ripe: the Japanese pipatsu and the Cambodian long pepper, originating from the same region as the famous Kampot pepper, and one variety of Piper longum, from Binh Duong, Vietnam. The supply of the Japanese pipatsu and The Binh Duong is temporarily "complicated." Therefore, we currently only supply the red, long Kampot pepper.
We are missing two other long peppers in this overview: 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 peppers. Despite a very long search, we have not yet succeeded in finding a high-quality one. and reasonably priced Cape long pepper. The search continues unabated. We do offer the Assam pepper, the Piper mulesua.
Try this other pepper. Enjoy its warm, earthy aromas and complexity, which make long peppers ideal for use in curries and stews (whole, crushed, or ground), but also lend themselves well to use as a substitute for black pepper in a pepper mill. In that case, it's recommended to crush the ear and remove the stem first.
How do you grind a long pepper?
Like nutmeg, you can grind long pepper by grating it, for example using a small Microplane grater, which you you can also use it for garlic and ginger. Or our Billund nutmeg mill, with its practical rotating mechanism. It's guaranteed to keep your fingers safe and minimize pepper waste!
