Our pepper star: the gastronomic Oscar for lyophilized Kampot pepper
An absolute world unique – this is freeze-dried fresh Kampot pepper with sea salt flower. The special lyophilization process ensures that the food treated in this way retains maximum freshness, quality, and very intense flavor accents. In the case of Kampot pepper flavored with sea salt flower, this process means a real flavor explosion – which was noticed this year even by the strict jury of the Guild of Fine Food, which meets in London at the prestigious Great Taste Awards and awarded it three stars. Kampot freeze-dried pepper thus joined the 1.5% of foods awarded in this way.
A food that nobody else in the world has
For 27 years, the jury has been appreciating the best foods in the world. Every year they receive their "film Oscar." More than 500 jurors evaluate all the products entered into the competition over two months. Each of them is carefully tasted blind by top chefs, buyers, sellers, restaurateurs, or food critics. Among the global competition, historically only two Czech foods have found a place for three stars. Now, among them, as another golden winner, is the freeze-dried green Kampot pepper, which we import to the Czech Republic as a 100% organic fair trade product.
The jurors in the Great Taste Awards competition look for truly excellent taste regardless of brand or packaging. With freeze-dried pepper, they can find more than that. "At the beginning, there was a desire to bring truly fresh pepper to Europe. Its delicate taste, when the green pepper is still picked from the pepper vine," describes Lukáš Hejtmánek, one of our founders, who was significantly involved in the development of freeze-dried pepper from the start.
Lyophilization or freeze drying
Lyophilization is a process during which the peppercorns are deeply dried using freezing, and thanks to it, the pepper retains its maximum authentic flavor, which is incomparable to any other types of pepper in the world. "When you treat pepper this way, you just need to soak it at home in oil or any liquid, and the pellet will absorb moisture again and return to the same form it was just before being picked," explains Lukáš. All the interesting details about the lyophilization process and recommendations on how to work with our pepper in the kitchen can be found in our article where the idea of freeze-dried Kampot pepper was born.
Three stars mean in the Great Taste Awards jargon one simple word: excellent. It is an award for an extraordinarily tasty food, which less than 2% of the products entered worldwide receive each year. The award itself invites you not to leave the store without buying such a food. With us, you can also be sure that you are shopping as sustainably as possible and supporting a good cause.
A gastronomic unique with heart in the right place
When we started our .pepper..field project in 2018, the Czech Development Agency joined us. As part of the development program in Cambodia, which aims to improve the economic situation of small farmers, it also helped us develop freeze-dried pepper thanks to the purchase of Czech freeze-dryers LYOTRADE, on which it is dried. This way, the customer receives real authentic Cambodia at home, and in return, they can be sure that they are helping specific people live a quality life in other parts of the world.
Chefs also like to cook with freeze-dried pepper
Our freeze-dried pepper has become popular in renowned Czech restaurants. For example, Casa de Carli in Prague now cooks its menu incorporating it! We can also find it in the menu in London, where it was used during a three-star dinner at the famous Copper & Ink restaurant by MasterChef finalist and one of the judges of the competition, Tony Rodd. As the name of the dinner suggests, the dishes were made from star-awarded foods of this year. We can’t wait to share some of these recipes.
It is an indescribable feeling to be counted among the top world foods such as the best cheeses, virgin olive oils, or delicacies like oysters. It is an honor for us, and we are sure that fresh freeze-dried Kampot pepper definitely belongs among them.
