Product Description
PURPOSE
WHAT IS IT?
Indian long pepper is well known in India, and Indonesia, but it’s going to be a revelation to large numbers of cooks, and chefs, in the Northern Hemisphere, Oceania, and Africa.
If you’re using black, white, or green pepper now, this cousin of theirs will offer you some very interesting, and subtle, flavor palette additions, when you bring them together with spices from the other side of the world!
Long pepper is the fruit of a flowering vine. It is dried, then used as a spice, and seasoning. Largely replaced by the peppers of the Americas in the 16th century, for millennia it was the go-to for a bit of bite in food, wine, and beer.
EXPERIENCE
If you’re used to traditional black, white, or green peppercorns, long pepper differs in that it is a touch more hot, to the tongue. Then comes what makes it special. It has some mild notes that are a bit musky/cumin-like. It also has faint citrus notes, which makes it pair well with juniper berries, or other similar edgy aromatics, or flavors, when ground for a rub.
If you use it with other Asian spices, it doesn’t do all that much to warrant putting it into places where more potent peppers have beaten it out. HOWEVER, if you dare to introduce it to spices well out of the Asian wheelhouse, magic occurs. Long pepper pairs well with other edgy spices, like Juniper berries, and woody aromatics, like rosemary.
It is best when it is ground, or boiled/stewed. Like a bay leaf, if you add it to a stock, sauce, etc., remember to remove it before serving. Don’t store foods cooked with it left in there. The flavor may intensify in some very unpredictable and/or unpleasant ways.
CULINARY GEOGRAPHY
Long pepper originates in India. During the peak of its reign as one of the premiere spices of the world, it was grown in many similar Asian climates, popularized in the cuisines of Indonesia.
While it exports, dried, well, to pretty much anywhere, it doesn’t grow as well outside of its home range.
Today, Indonesia is the biggest grower of the spice, and, likely, its biggest consumer.
TRADITIONAL USES
- Curries - Including Nihari Masala
- Mead/wines - A classic ingredient of medieval meads and Roman wines
- Kandathippili Rasam - A soup made of spices
- Ayam Jeruk - a salad of grilled chicken and toasted coconut
IMPROVISATIONAL 'RIFFS'
- Rockin’ Rack of Lamb - Ground juniper berries and long pepper; rosemary; thyme; and garlic oil
- Berry Pearry Bonanza Jam - Strawberry and Prickly Pear with a tingly pepper pop!
- Pakistani Pastrami - A riff on the American classic with long pepper and a few more aromatics beyond corriander.
- Truffle tika - A sweet curry cream filling in a dark chocolate truffle shell.
THE BACKSTORY
The chilies that are the dominant source of “heat” throughout Asia did not arrive there until the 15th century, when Portuguese and Spanish traders brought them from the Americas. Before that, the long pepper, not even black, green, or white pepper, was the king of the spice throughout the continent, and surrounding island archipelagos.
Long pepper was a premium spice, in Roman times, commanding double what black pepper, its cousin, did. Throughout the medieval period, long pepper was a premium spice, and a trading currency, in Europe. In fact, if you want to make a legit mead, or medieval ale, you have to have the long-pepper for it.
Today, it’s still a pretty prevalent spice in Indonesia. In India, it’s a lot harder to find.
AKA
- Indian Long Pepper
- Pippali
- Bi Ba
- Bi Bo
- Jaborandi Pepper
- Kana
- Langer Pfeffer
- Lindipipper
- Magadhi
- Magdhi
- Pimienta Larga
- Pimenta-Longa
- Piper longum
- Pippli
- Poivre Long d'Inde
- Poivrier Long
- Poivrier Long d'Inde
- Poivre Long Indien
- Ushana
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