Piper nigrum Dried fruits with and without pericarp - Penja Cameroun

Penja pepper (poivre de Penja) is a type of pepper (''Piper nigrum'') grown in the volcanic soil of the Penja Valley in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It is available as green, white, black and red pepper. Its taste is influenced by the local volcanic soil, which is rich in minerals. Under the name "poivre de Penja", the pepper is protected as a

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, ...

in the 17 African OAPI countries under the Bangui agreement, as well as a

Protected Geographical Indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

in the European Union and Northern Ireland.

History

Pepper culture was introduced into Cameroon by Antoine Decré, who had a

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

plantation in

Penja Penja is a town and sub-district in the South-West Region of Cameroon. It is known for its production of Penja white pepper. See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Camer ...

. The first export, a bag of 40 kg of

white 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 diame ...

, took place in March 1958. The pepper became popular with Michelin-star chefs and was being sold for as much as €321 per kilogram as of May, 2016.Bloomberg, Michelin-Star Taste for Volcanic Pepper Boosts Cameroon by Pauline Bax and Divine Ntaryike Jr May 23, 2016

Sources

* ''La presse du Cameroun'', n° 2371, Thursday 20 March 1958

References

Piper (plant) Cameroonian products with protected designation of origin {{spice-stub