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Peppercorn has played a huge role in the history of food. It has been a currency and shaped trade routes around the world, in fact, it is the world’s most traded spice. Yet the sheer variety of peppercorns that can differently accentuate ingredients and finish dishes is still relatively little explored.
“Too many chefs and home foodies assume that all pepper is created equal,” explains spice queen, Ren Patel, whose strapline is “making the dry story sexy”. She runs spice masterclasses for chefs, including Yottam Ottolenghi, Tom Kerridge and Ollie Dabbous, in their restaurant kitchens and for foodie customers from her cookery school in Northwest London. She has recently started selling her spices direct to customers and through prestigious retailers including Fortnum & Mason.
“Chefs tell me I’ve made them think about pepper completely differently. I like to think finishing a dish with a twist of the pepper mill is like adding a splash of fragrance, it gives them extra depth and intrigue,” she says.
What is pepper?
Pepper is the dried fruit of Piper nigrum, a climbing vine originally native to Kerala in Southwest India, now grown in much of Southeast Asia and South America. It produces clusters of small peppercorns after flowering. Once the berries are almost ripe and starting to change from green to orangey-red, the fruits are harvested and sun-dried, taking on a brown colour and igniting a reaction that creates piperine, the active ingredient in pepper that gives a distinctive tingling sensation on the palate. At ‘garbling facilities’ the peppercorns are sifted through mesh screens to sort them into different grades according to size.
The difference between green, black and white peppercorns
“The difference between a green and black peppercorn is similar to the difference between a fresh, young, green, mild tomato and a riper, more complex red one,” explains Patel.
Green pepper is picked before the berries are ripe and has a mellow zestiness. It can be eaten fresh, pickled, dried or freeze-dried. White pepper comes from ripe peppercorns that are soaked in water to remove the flesh, leaving only the creamy white seed. Their flavour is more delicate, floral and fruity without the bite of black pepper. White pepper is used to blend into lighter dishes such as a fine potato puree where black peppercorns would be visually disconcerting and overpowering.
The big 10 peppercorns and how to pair them
Malabar
Malabar is an entry-level pepper harvested in the state of Kerala on India’s Malabar Coast. It has a floral, slightly woody and resinous nose and a sweet earthiness on the palate. Use its warm, spiciness for cooking saag aloo and vegetable pakoras, braised chicken and beef dishes. For a summer shortcake or scone with peppered strawberries, Patel suggests using freshly cracked Malabar.
Tellicherry
Tellicherry are single-estate peppers from Kerala and have complex aromas ranging from grapefruit zest to grass and pine forests, with a distinct bright freshness plus a long, rounded finish, making them great finishing peppers. Tellicherry refers to the size of the peppercorn – the top 10% of the Malabar pepper crop with 4.25mm+ pinheads are Tellicherry. Contrary to expectations, bigger peppercorns are fruitier and have less heat. Tom Cenci of Nessa restaurant in London uses Tellicherry to bring out the sweetness and fresh nuances of a heritage tomato salad.
Pondicherry
Pondicherry grows at higher altitudes in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India with a pungent aroma and rounded full-bodied, intensely peppery flavour. Pondicherry pepper is an essential ingredient of good chai. Chef and author of ‘Pepper’ Valerie Aikman-Smith uses cracked Pondicherry pepper to make roasted grapes as an unusual addition to a cheeseboard.
Voatsiperifery
A rare, wild pepper grown in the southern Madagascan rainforests with strong resinous, woody aromas and notes of pine forest and lemon zest and medium heat. Great with veal, its zestiness works well in a rich chocolate pot or chocolate truffle recipes too.
Kampot
Cambodia’s Kampot pepper production is flourishing again. Widely considered to be the best pepper in the world, Kampot has green and fresh aromas with a hint of lime blossom on the nose and its palate is delicate with a cold spiciness. The lime blossom notes work particularly well with seafood, especially crab. Kampot is always used as a finishing pepper. Chef/author Sabrina Ghayour uses black Kampot with crispy fried aubergine with a sticky pepper and Thai basil sauce.
Penja
Penja, from Cameroon, is the rarest white pepper, medium-strength with lemon notes and a light, tongue-tingling in the mouth. This white pepper is an excellent accompaniment to fish as it doesn’t have the intense flavours found in the peppercorn husk. Julia Child always insisted that white pepper should be used in a traditional French béchamel sauce so that there are no unsightly black flecks.
Cubeb
This rare Indonesian pepper, known as Java or tailed pepper (the stalk is left on the berry) is big and bold with a very different nose to palate. Expect all-spice, ginger and nutmeg aromas, big heady eucalyptus flavours, a bitter spiciness, and a long finish. Its bitterness cuts through rich and fatty products, so it is perfect with pork belly or lamb tagine.
Grains of Selim or Senegal pepper
Strictly speaking, this is not a real pepper but the seedpods of a shrubby tree. The flavour is in the seed pods, not the seeds which can be removed as they are somewhat bitter and astringent. The aroma is musky with hints of liquorice and its sharp, musky and eucalyptus flavour is much favoured in African cooking. Toast the pods in a dry pan before crushing for a more mellow flavour. Grains of Selim are a key ingredient of suya spice blend according to Lerato Umah Shaylor, author of Africana, and adds distinction to Ghanaian pepper stews, shito sauce and Nigerian jollof rice.
Long pepper
Harvested in India and Indonesia, this distinctive-looking pepper with wood, nutmeg and cardamom on the nose, has a similar shape and size to a catkin. It can be cracked in a pestle and mortar, though Patel suggests using a microplane. Add long pepper whole to sauces and allow to infuse to impart its strong woody, camphoraceous, cinnamon-like flavour. It can be mellowed by toasting in a dry pan before grinding. A pepper to cook with, it has a long, balmy finish with considerable heat. Long used in South Indian lentil stews and pickles, its heat is good for BBQ meats.
Sarawak
Grown in the forests of Sarawak in mountainous Borneo in small batches, and picked by hand and sun-dried, this pepper has a big, wet, woody aroma and a noticeable hint of citrus. On the palate, it is mellow and resinous with a slight sweetness and fruitiness. Great as a finishing pepper, coarsely grind it for grilled meats and steak as well as tangy vinaigrettes on salads.
Six tips for buying and tasting peppercorns
1. Look for peppercorns that are a uniform colour and don’t crumble.
2. Never buy ready-ground pepper.
3. Seek a lively, floral, multi-faceted nose with layers of heat.
4. On the palate, there should be a fine balance of fruit, spice, earthiness, acidity, sweetness and lasting warmth.
5. Don’t be tempted by a rainbow mix of peppercorns – they are likely to be of the lowest quality.
6. Peppercorns that are vacuum-packed retain maximum moisture, flavour and freshness.
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