Discover Pepper

At the market
Peppercorns often take their names from their origins. Look for these varieties in specialty food stores or at online retailers.

Black Peppercorns
• Tellicherry peppercorns, grown on the southwest coast of India, are considered by many to be the best peppercorns in the world. They are the ripest berries grown on Mount Tellicherry. They have deep hot flavour, reddish hue and are larger and more pungent than typical peppercorns.
They are blanched then air-dried in the sun until dark and aromatic.

• Malabar peppercorns grow lower on the same vines as Tellicherry and are picked at the same time. They have the finest flavour of all mass-produced varieties. They also are blanched and air-dried in the sun.

• Sarawak peppercorns grow on the northeast coast of Borneo, Malaysia. They are air-dried indoors to retain flavour, resulting in a sweet, peppery fragrance, which is particularly complementary to sweets and desserts.

White Peppercorns
• Sarawak white peppercorns are the crème de la crème of white pepper. Harvested when fully mature, they are packed in burlap sacks and placed in running stream water to loosen their husks, then hulled and sun-dried
until naturally bleached white. The result is a clean, pale peppercorn with
a rich, winey flavour and distinctive hot taste. They are a favourite with chefs and gourmets.

• Muntok white peppercorns from the island of Bangka, Indonesia, though not as fine as Sarawak, have a lightly fermented flavour and hot taste that is best used in blends.

• Penja white peppercorns, known as the pearls of Cameroon, are large, tan peppercorns from the Penja Valley in Africa. With woodsy and musky aromas, they are more delicate than most white pepper.

Exotic Peppercorns
• Long peppers from Bali are not peppercorns but the 1-inch (2.5 cm) long fruit of the Piper longum. They are milder than peppercorns with sharp hints of cardamom, incense and pine. Grate them into a fine powder like nutmeg or snap them in half to release their floral aroma.

• Cubeb or tailed pepper is the fruit of the Piper cubeba vine from the mountains of Java. Known also as comet's tail, the fat berry's flavour is similar to that of black pepper yet with a slight bitterness and aromas of allspice, camphor and clove. They are used in curry blends and the North African spice blend ras al hanout.

• Guinea pepper, or alligator pepper or grains of paradise, is not a pepper but a member of the ginger family from the Aframomum melegueta shrub from the west coast of Africa. These seeds are known for their hot, herbaceous and slightly bitter flavour, used for flavouring sausages, aquavit and gin.

Recipes to try:
• Toasted Black Peppercorn and Cumin Pork Tenderloin
• White Pepper Pots de Crème with Rhubarb Cherry Compote
• Grilled Four-Peppercorn T-Bones
• Poached Salmon with Green Peppercorn Tarragon Sauce