Organic Long Pepper

2 oz bag

Long pepper (Piper longum) actually begins life as a long cluster of tiny berries which then merge to a single, rod-like structure that bears some resemblance to catkins. Long pepper is native to India and probably came to Europe before the now dominant black pepper.

It was highly prized and priced during the Roman Empire – about three times the price of black pepper. Long pepper is more pungent than black pepper, it has both sweet and hot characteristics that some feel are akin to the combination of white pepper and mace. The rods are crushed or grated before use.

Long pepper is popular as a component in Moroccan spice blends such as Ras el Hanout and the Ethiopian blend known as Berbere .

Hot and warm with sweet overtones, long pepper has had a revival of interest over the last five or six years especially with professional chefs in France and here in the USA