Celebrity chefs from Paris to Los Angeles swear by 'Kampot pepper', a southwestern Cambodian spice with a tragic history, that is now reclaiming its global pre-eminence.

 

It is also proving to be 'black gold' for some of its once-impoverished farmers, thanks in part to Kampot pepper last year being awarded a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union.

 

This identifies unique products - like Stilton cheese, Champagne or Darjeeling tea - as originating in a very specific region.

Vietnam, the world’s top pepper producer, churned out some 145 000 tons of the spice. But more plantations are springing up while Kampot quality is rated as high as ever and hitherto slack markets, like the United States, are getting hooked on the spice. A New York chef has even concocted a Kampot pepper ice cream, while Michelin three-starred French chef Olivier Roellinger rhapsodizes about its “olfactory richness” and broad spectrum of flavors.

 

The spice’s EU designation “has permitted a renaissance of pepper in Kampot. … This not only recognises the singularity of this pepper but helps protect it from imitations,” says Nathalie Chaboche, a Frenchwoman who with her Belgian husband, Guy Porre, owns La Plantation, where pepper plants entwine 20 000 posts on a rolling green landscape fronted by the Gulf of Thailand.

The couple, who started the enterprise four years ago after lucrative careers in the computer industry, aim to boost production from six tons last year to 50 tons in 2018. They intend to grow without weakening quality control or endangering Kampot’s status as a “premier cru,” a French term for wine and other produce signifying impeccable quality - and hefty price.

378 euros / kg

Kampot red pepper was recently selling in Germany for as much as 378 euros per kilogramme (over R5 300), compared to an average import price of about $8 (R106) for one kilo in Europe for Vietnamese pepper. The farm-gate price for the three pepper varieties - red, white and black - averages around $10 (R300) per kilo.