Ashanti pepper (tail pepper)

The ashanti pepper is also called the African cubeb. Like most other African pepper varieties, it was brought to the African continent and does not grow naturally there. The berry is less bitter than that of the Javanese cubeb, also called the real cubeb. Ashanti is comparable in sharpness to long pepper.

The Portuguese brought the cubeb from Java to the Gray Coast of West Africa, from where they shipped the pepper to Europe along with the native grain of paradise.

For a long time, both spices dominated European cuisine, but both were displaced by the peppers from India, Java and the West Indies, which were shipped to Europe by the Dutch and British Companies. The Ashanti pepper is named after the ancient kingdom of Ashanti, which, after it was abruptly annexed by the British, would henceforth be called the 'Gold Coast'.

The ashanti pepper grows wild in the forests of Likouala, in the northeast of Congo. Our pepper comes from there. It has many names, such as gorilla pepper, Baka or Pygmy pepper - after the Baka people who live here and collect the pepper - uziza or ndongo. The ashanti pepper is an appetizing-looking pepper, colorful in color, from gray-green to black and blushing red. The stem is still attached.

Taste and smell

The smell is pleasant, and the taste is less bitter than that of the Javanese cubeb. It is an important type of pepper in West African cuisine, and, like grain of paradise, it is used in the recipe for Bombay sapphire gin.

Use 

Ashanti pepper is a versatile pepper, in stews, broths, meat, vegetable dishes and sauces, but also in sweet preparations. as in old-fashioned gingerbread nuts. Ashanti pepper is an ingredient of a classic ras-el-hanout, and is (sometimes) used in berbere, instead of Cape long pepper.

Compared to the Indonesian cubeb, this African cubeb is milder, and therefore better suited for sweet preparations, such as cake.

Cubeb, like black pepper, is used whole, bruised or ground, always including the tails.

Recipe(s):

Features:

• 100% pepper berries of the Piper guineense
• origin: Likouala, Congo (Rep)

Assortment 

• available in glass, stand-up pouch and test tube
  
• glass jar contains 60 grams
• stand-up pouches with a capacity of 30 to 500 grams
• available in test tube of 10ml
  
• larger quantities on request

Gift packaging

• the jar is available in a tasteful gift packaging, consisting of a cube box filled with black tissue paper
• for an overview of our gift packaging, please refer to the section gift packaging

General advice

• grind your ashanti pepper shortly before use
  
• add the ground pepper to your preparation at the very last minute

Save:

• store your ashanti pepper in closed packaging
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• best before July 2025 (07/25)
• this expiration date is an indication