Kampot Pepper Pot

Located in the southern coastline of Cambodia, in a place where the river the river meanders through rice fields seeking the nearby Gulf of Siam land shaded by the Elephant Mountains are the world famous pepper plantations of Kampot. This pepper is the champagne of peppers, at least according to the gourmets who praise it's opulent aroma to the skies and back. Beyond the shabby chic of Kampot town where French Colonial architecture blends an exotic patina into the  more practical modern Cambodia response, there are fields of black gold.

The pepper is grown organically with such interesting fertilizers as bat dung and crushed up rice field crabs, the use of chemical fertilisers are banned in the production of the only crop in Cambodia to carry a Geographical Protection Indication listing.  The taste is sublime, I have to say and the fragrance mixes in nicely with the frangipani scented breezes skipping along the fertile fields of Kampot.

All Kampot Pepper is harvested by hand. The riper red peppercorns are actually picked individually as the timing needs to be perfect for them to obtain their red colour when drying. After harvesting, black and red pepper are dried in the sun for a few days. White Pepper is soaked in water for 48 hours to soften the husk which is then gently rubbed from the core before being cleaned and also dried. And in the market here abouts, fat jars of preserved green peppers!