Red long Pipatsu pepper

The pipa-tsu (島胡椒) is an exceptionally aromatic pepper from Ishigaki Jima (Yaeyama), and deserves a place of honor in the kitchen, as Japanese chefs do, who use the pepper in exquisite fish dishes. A complex pepper, with a lot of body.

This plant is a long pepper of the kind that originated in Indonesia, and is called Cabai Jawa (Javanese pooper). The pepper was introduced to Japan by the Dutch who brought it from the East Indies to Japan in the fifteenth century.

The pepper is grown south of Okinawa, on the rocky bottom of the archipelago. In this Japanese variety, the catkins grow upright, and do not droop, as is normally the case with the Javanese long pepper.

The pepper plant is a climber that needs support to reach full maturity. That can be a tree in the wild, or a planted tree. A single tree can support 3 to 4 plants.

One plant produces 2 to 3 kilograms of catkins, which are picked when they are ripe and bright red. They are picked in October and November. Then they are steamed and dried. The latter happens in the sun.

Odor and taste

This long pepper is quite sharp, especially for a pepper of this type. You taste a palette of sweet citrus tones, but the spicy-woody scent of black pepper *) predominates. These are the most important seasonings in long pepper:

• germacrene D *, spicy woody
  
• β-caryophyllene *, sweet spicy and woody
• 3-carene, citrusy
• D-limonene (dipentene), sweet orange flavour, present in moderate amounts in nutmeg, mace and cardamom,
• α- and β-pinene *, woody woody pine scent, as in cumin, pine (pine cone), juniper berry and hemp
• β-myrcene *, spicy aroma, with notes of fruits (mango, grape, peach) and mint
• sabinene *, responsible for the woody, camphorous taste of black pepper, among others
• α-phellandrene *, pleasant citrus and woody pepper flavour

Use

The dried pepper is quite hard and seems difficult to process, but if you first break the pepper or cut it into pieces, it can easily be ground or mortared. The smell of ground long pepper is definitely overpowering, very aromatic. Long pepper has a more complex flavor than black pepper.

Long pepper is therefore suitable for general use, and is ideal as a pepper with white fish and white meat. Due to the light citrus aroma, the pepper combines excellently with fruit and coconut, and as far as cheese is concerned, with goat cheese. Grate the pepper, or if you want to stew it in a dish, first soak the pepper in cold water for fifteen minutes.

Delicious with green asparagus is a gremolata - normally a combination of lemon zest, garlic, herbs and spices - based on this Japanese long pepper:

• 1 ½ tsp long pepper, lightly toasted and ground,
• 1 ½ teaspoon coriander, also toasted and ground,
• 4 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped,
• Zest of 1 lemon.

Attributes:

• 100% pepper berries from the Piper retrofractum
• origin: Ishigaki jama, Japan

Assortment

• available in glass and pouch (no test tubes)
  
• glass jar contains 45 grams
• stand-up pouches with a content of up to 30 to 300 grams
• larger quantities on request

Gift Wrap

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

General advice

• use long pepper whole or broken When you grind the pepper, grind your pepper shortly before use, and store what you have ground too much in a tightly closed jar.
  
• the whole or broken pepper is best served in stews, so that the pepper has time to integrate,
• add ground long pepper to your preparation at the very last minute

Save:

• keep your kampot pepper in closed packaging
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• best before ???
• this expiration date is an indication