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 do Japanese chefs, who use it 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 to Japan from what was then the East Indies in the fifteenth century.

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

The pepper plant is a climber that needs support to reach full maturity. This could 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. They are then steamed and dried. The latter happens in the sun.

Smell and taste

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

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

Use

The dried pepper is quite hard and seems difficult to process, but if you first break or cut the pepper into pieces, it can easily be ground or mortared. The smell of ground long pepper is certainly overwhelming, very aromatic. Long pepper has a more complex taste 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 its light citrus aroma, the pepper combines excellently with fruit and coconut, and as for cheese, with goat's 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 on green asparagus is a gremolata - normally a combination of lemon zest, garlic, herbs and spices - based on this Japanese long pepper:

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

Features:

• 100% pepper berries of the Piper retroractum
• origin: Ishigaki jama, Japan

Assortment

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

Gift packaging

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

General advice

• use long pepper whole or broken. When you grind the pepper, grind your pepper shortly before use, and store any excess ground in a tightly sealed jar.
  
• the whole or broken pepper works best 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