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Kampot pepper ( km, ម្រេចកំពត; french: Poivre de Kampot) is a
cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
of
black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...
(''piper nigrum'') grown and produced in
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
. It was also known as ''poivre d'Indochine'' ('Indochina pepper') during the early 20th century under the French protectorate. The modern name is derived from the area where it is grown, the Province of Kampot, which previously also included the later separated Province of Kep. Kampot pepper is a certified geographical indication (GI) product in Cambodia (since 2010) and in
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
(since 2016). There are two varieties, the ''kamchay'' () and the ''lampong'' (or Belantoeung), locally known respectively as "small leaves" and "big leaves".


Geographical area

Kampot pepper is grown in seven districts/cities in two southwestern provinces of Cambodia.
Kampot Province Kampot ( km, កំពត ) is a province in southwestern Cambodia. It borders the provinces of Koh Kong and Kampong Speu to the north, Takéo to the east, Kep and the country of Vietnam ( Kiên Giang) to the south, and Sihanoukville to the ...
:* Kampong Trach :*
Dang Tong Dang Tong District ( km, ស្រុកដងទង) is a district located in Kampot Province, in southern Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country loca ...
:* Tuek Chhou :*
Chhouk Chhouk Rin is a former Khmer Rouge commander. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three tourists, Australian David Wilson, 29, Briton Mark Slater, 28, and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27 at Phnom Voar in 1994. In 2005, he esc ...
:* Kampot City Kep Province :* Kep City :* Damnak Chang'aeur


Production

Kampot pepper is grown, produced and sold in green, black, white and red varieties, all from the same plant. The climate of Kampot Province offers perfect conditions for growing pepper and the
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...
content of the soil in the foothills of the
Elephant Mountains Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
helps to give Kampot pepper its unique
terroir (, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contex ...
. The growing conditions are only one of several elements of importance to the production of Kampot pepper. Knowledge of pepper cultivation and production has been handed down from generation to generation in Kampot Province since at least the 13th century. Storage conditions are also of importance and different qualities of Kampot pepper are produced and sold. Plantations are inspected by the Kampot Pepper Producers Association (KPPA) and by the independent certification body Eco-Cert. Only accredited members of the KPPA, adhering to the PGI criteria, are authorised to sell pepper using the “Kampot Pepper” appellation of origin. In 2016, at the end of May, Cambodia had produced a total of 11,819 tonnes of black pepper, an increase of 20% compared to the same period of 2015. About 72% of that came from
Tbong Khmum Tboung Khmum ( km, ស្រុកត្បូងឃ្មុំ) is a district (''srok'') located in Tboung Khmum province, Cambodia. The district capital is Tboung Khmum town located around 20 kilometres east of the provincial capital of Kamp ...
, which has over 2,762 hectares of pepper farmland. Comparably, Vietnam tops the list of pepper growing nations with a total crop of 155,000 tons in 2014; a 38.6% share of the global production. The world market price for pepper is currently favourable and many new pepper plantations are constructed across the country. In some regions, large pepper plantations are contributing to the already alarming
deforestation in Cambodia Deforestation in Cambodia has increased in recent years. Cambodia is one of the world's most forest endowed countries, that was not historically widely deforested. However, massive deforestation for economic development threatens its forests and ...
.


History

Kampot pepper cultivation has a long history and was first described in the 13th century, during the Angkorian era, when the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan visited the area. Modern intensive production was initiated under the French colonial rule in the 1870s and at the beginning of the 20th century, Cambodia harvested around 8,000 tons of Kampot pepper annually. In the 1960s, there were still 1 million pepper poles in Kampot, producing around 3,000 tons per year, but the production was severely affected by the
Cambodian civil war The Cambodian Civil War ( km, សង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិលកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vi ...
and only 4 tons per year were harvested by the end of the 1990s. Kampot pepper production slowly gained momentum in the 2000s when previous pepper farmers gradually returned to their lands. As of July 2015, six districts in the southern province of Kampot have pepper farms, while the spice's overseas market consists mostly of Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. As the first Cambodian product, Kampot pepper obtained the World Trade Organization's
Geographical Indication A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
(GI) status in 2010, tying the quality of the product to its origin. International demand for the product has risen since then. However, annual export volume is still relatively small, i.e. 58 tonnes was produced on 25 hectares for the year 2014. In 2020, the total production of Kampot pepper had grown to around 80 tonnes.


Use

Ground black pepper or green peppercorns are used for the signature Kampot Pepper Crab, where they are stir-fried in sweetened soy sauce with garlic and crab meat. An alternative recipe features green peppercorns stir-fried with
squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fittin ...
and garlic in a mix of
palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed ...
,
oyster sauce Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from oyster extracts,The Times, 22 January 1981; ''Cook Accidentally on purpose'' sugar, salt and water thic ...
and
fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao ...
.
Samai Distillery Samai Rum Distillery ( km, សិប្បកម្មកែច្នៃស្រារ៉ោមសម័យ) is a Cambodian premium rum manufacturer in Phnom Penh founded in 2014. The first rum distillery in the country. It was founded by Diego ...
in
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
uses Kampot Red Pepper from La Plantation in its Kampot Pepper Rum. Kampot pepper crab.jpg, Kampot pepper crab featuring green Kampot peppercorns, garlic and spring onion. Cambodian Prawns with Kampot Pepper.jpg, Cambodian
prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature' ...
s with green Kampot peppercorns. File:Rhums Samai.jpg, Kampot Pepper Rum spiced with Kampot Red Pepper (right) produced by
Samai Distillery Samai Rum Distillery ( km, សិប្បកម្មកែច្នៃស្រារ៉ោមសម័យ) is a Cambodian premium rum manufacturer in Phnom Penh founded in 2014. The first rum distillery in the country. It was founded by Diego ...
. Dried red Kampot peppercorns.jpg, Dried red Kampot peppercorns.


References


External links


Kampot Pepper Promotion Association


{{Local products of Cambodia, state=expanded Piper (plant) Flora of Cambodia Cambodian cuisine Kampot province