In search of the perfect peppercorn!
As you may have guessed from the name of this blog I have a particular soft spot for one of the most common spices - pepper. It has always been a staple in my house, from growing up through to having my own kitchen. There's something very special about the warming effect of this spice, cheering up everything from fried eggs to pasta, strawberries to fish, pepper is a common spice that should not be overlooked.
A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to find myself in Cambodia. This beautiful country has a turbulent recent history, but I found the people to be warm, resilient and incredibly positive. Being obsessed with both pepper and seafood I was drawn to the Kampot region, so famous for its pepper production that Kampot pepper is a byword for quality pepper.
We visited a Kampot pepper farm to walk around their vines, speak with the producers, and of course to buy some lovely pepper direct from the farmers.
Pepper berries grow on tall, rambling vines that are coaxed up poles to create 10-12 foot pillars on which the pepper will grow. It may sound naive, but I was surprised to learn that green pepper, red pepper, black pepper and white pepper can all be harvested from the same plant, with the different grades of pepper being produced at different times and with varying processing methods. The starting point is green peppercorns which grow in clusters and are often used as an accompaniment to south-east Asian dishes, such as the amazing Kep crab we ate after visiting the pepper farm. Green peppercorns are essentially the underripe fruit and have fresh, vibrant flavour. Back in the UK I have found green peppercorns in brine, which have some of the impact of the fresh berries, but do not give the same citrus burst that you get from fresh peppercorns.
The classic black pepper is simply cooked and dried green peppercorns - so simple! You will likely be familiar with black pepper, it being the standard type of pepper found in pepper grinders on just about every kitchen and restaurant table. This is the deep, spicy flavour that cheers up just about any food.
So what is white pepper? The answer may surprise you... it is black pepper with the outer skin removed. The bare peppercorns lose a little of their depth and intensity, but white pepper still packs a punch and can be used where you don't want black flecks appearing in the final dish.
Left to ripen, green peppercorns eventually turn a vibrant bright red, resulting in the final type of pepper - red peppercorns. These jewel like berries are left to dry and the resulting spice is a fruity and sweeter version of it's black peppercorn cousin. I fell in love with reds peppercorns when in Cambodia and ended up bringing a huge quantity back with me. One thing I did find was that as the berries were ripened more than the usual black peppercorns the individual kernels were slightly larger, meaning that my pepper grinder struggled to grind them. Instead I used a pestle and mortar which released the pepper's wonderful perfume into the kitchen each time I ground some. Beautiful.
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