Organic red Kampot pepper PGI
Price range: $6.00 through $51.50
Left on the vine until it turns red, then picked berry by berry. The rarest of the Kampot peppers, sweeter, fruitier, and worth the wait.
- Packed by hand
- Courier and hotel delivery
- Shipped from our boutiques
The story
Organic red Kampot pepper PGI
Red Kampot pepper is not a different plant and not a different treatment. It is the same berry as the black, simply left hanging until it ripens fully and turns red on the vine. That sounds like a small thing. It is not.
A vine ripens unevenly. Berries turn red a few at a time, over weeks, so the pickers come back to the same plants again and again and take only what is ready. Every extra day on the vine is also a day the crop can be lost to a storm, to birds, or simply to over-ripening. A plantation that would give one full harvest of black pepper gives a fraction of that in red. This is the whole reason for the price difference, and it is worth knowing before you compare labels.
Sweet where the black is sharp
Ripeness changes the sugar in the fruit, and the dried grain keeps it. Red Kampot pepper is noticeably sweeter and fruitier than the black, with notes closer to dried fruit and warm spice than to wood. The heat is present but rounded, arriving late rather than up front.
It belongs where sweetness is already in the dish. On strawberries, on a chocolate dessert, on foie gras, on a duck breast, on a reduction with red wine. Cambodian cooks use it on grilled beef where a black pepper would fight the caramelisation. In a mill on the table it is a talking point on its own.
Where to find it
Because the harvest is small, red pepper sells out first. The tube and the palm-leaf box are the usual gift formats. Stock is most reliable in the months right after the harvest, from March onwards, in our Kampot, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh shops.
Related products
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Kampot BBQ salt
Price range: $2.50 through $5.00
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Organic green Kampot pepper PGI
Price range: $6.30 through $40.50
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Organic white Kampot pepper PGI
Price range: $6.40 through $56.00
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What our customers say
I came in for one tube of black pepper and left with the three colour set. The staff opened each one so I could smell them before choosing. Nothing was rushed.
Sokha C.Siem ReapReview published on Google Livraison le jour même à mon hôtel, emballage soigné, prêt pour l’avion. Le sel fumé est devenu mon cadeau par défaut.
Rithy S.KampotReview collected en boutique
Product details
- Botanical species
- Piper nigrum
- Origin
- Cambodia
- Harvest season
- February to May
- Ingredients
- Organic red Kampot pepper PGI
- Shelf life
- 2 years
- Allergens
- None
Questions
Why is red Kampot pepper more expensive than the black?
Because of what it costs to get it. It is the same berry, simply left on the vine until it ripens fully and turns red. A vine ripens a few berries at a time over weeks, so pickers return to the same plants again and again. Every extra day is also a day the crop can be lost to a storm or to birds. A plantation that gives one full black harvest gives a fraction of that in red.
When is red Kampot pepper actually in stock?
The harvest runs from February to May depending on the year, and stock is most reliable from March onwards. Because volumes are small, red is the first of the four to sell out, usually well before the next harvest. If you want it for a specific date, ask us to set some aside rather than counting on the shelf.
Is it worth buying it in Kampot itself?
Our Kampot shop sits closest to the plantations and receives the new harvest first, so it is the one most likely to have red in the format you want during and just after the season. Siem Reap and Phnom Penh also carry it in the gift formats, the tube and the palm leaf box, while stock lasts.