Cape long pepper (timiz)

This Cape long (bush)pepper is a sharp, ripe pepper with a complex flavor. The catkins are much longer than the catkins of the Asian long peppers, on average about 10 cm long.

The Cape long pepper (Piper capense) is a perennial, evergreen climbing plant with broad green leaves. In shrub form, it grows 2 to 4 meters tall. The inflorescence is spike-shaped. During the rainy season, the small flowers become hidden under the scales, beneath which the seeds are also trapped during the winter. They resemble willow catkins.

The catkins contain round to oval seeds with a diameter of 2 mm. They are harvested whole in January, with the stalk attached, and are traded both fresh and dried. To this long pepper to distinguish from the imported Indian long pepper (temist or farenji timiz) is what these indigenous people are called pepper abesha timiz, or simply timiz.

The Cape long pepper grows in a zone from West Africa to Ethiopia, and also occurs in South Africa, hence the botanical name Piper capense. In southern Africa, it blooms The plant flowers from August to February and bears fruit from October to June. It can even bloom all year round if sufficient water is available.

In Ethiopia, capense grows alongside the Piper. also the Piper umbellatum, originally from South America. Timiz is very popular in Ethiopia, in contrast to the South American pepper, which is hardly collected, let alone eaten. Incidentally, they are fond of the Asian long peppers, which are usually sweeter, and are imported in large quantities.

Most timiz in Ethiopia comes from the Bonga rainforest. For the farmers in Bonga, it is almost impossible to grow the pepper to dry in the sun, which does happen elsewhere. Sun drying takes ten to twenty days, depending on the number of hours of sunshine. The quality of sun drying is usually variable, because the conditions are difficult to monitor. . Usually the peppers therefore, after she to be cleaned, on a bed of wood and bamboo laid, to above to be dried over an open fire. This drying process takes but a few days, and takes place in a more controlled manner. The sun-dried peppers. They are highly prized for their fresher color and more complex aroma, but rare.

Scent and taste

This long one pepper is not very sharp. The first impression you get of this pepper gets is that of a smoky, camphor-bitter pepper, a bit like the African cubeb or Ashanti pepper. Gradually, you also taste notes of tobacco and resin. These are the main flavor components:

• α and β-pine, woody pine scent, like cumin, juniper and hemp,
• sabinen, responsible for the woody, camphor-like flavor of, among others, black pepper
• germacrene D, spicy woody
  
• α-cubeben, camphorous, like cubebpepper,
• β-caryophyllene, sweet, spicy and woody
• safrole, sasafras aroma, also present in cinnamon and nutmeg,
  

Culinary use and preparation

Due to its intense flavor, the pepper is used rarely in itself, but rather in the spice blends berbere and mekelesha, a mixture of timiz, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, nutmeg, black onion seed and black cardamom.

The simplest way to use the long pepper is to cut or break it into pieces and then mortar or grind these pieces, for example in a coffee grinder specifically designated for grinding spices.

Cape long pepper Pairs excellently with lamb, goat, fresh goat cheese (in combination with olive oil and green herbs), duck, game, and generally with dishes in which cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg (ehuru) are (or can be) used.

Features:

• 100% pepperberries of the Piper Capense
  
• The spikelets are attached to the fine, long stalk.
• origin: Ethiopia

Aassortment

• available in glass (30 grams), stand-up pouch (various weight classes) and sample bag
• larger quantities than shown on request

Save

• batch number **KE650466
• best before July 2029 (07-2029)

General advice

• use the entire long pepper or break it. When you grind the pepper do this shortly before use, and store any excess ground in a well-sealable jar.
  
• the whole or broken pepper comes into its own best in stews, so that the pepper gets the time to integrate