What should a healthy peppercorn look like?

If you go to some of the retail chains and look for the highest quality pepper there, we advise you to turn around and leave immediately. Standard spice sellers, who have at least 10 other types of spices on the shelf besides pepper, pack pepper into colorful packages, but you won't learn much about the quality of the pepper inside. So how to recognize truly quality peppercorns?

Several important indicators

For pepper from the Kampot region to earn the honor of reaching your table, it must meet several criteria that are monitored during harvest, selection directly at the farmers, and subsequently also during selection here with us. Moreover, there is a so-called Book of Specifications – a book that precisely defines the parameters that Kampot pepper must boast to ensure each grain achieves the highest quality and thus taste.

The first important quality indicator is grain size. Small peppercorns reveal that growth did not occur under ideal conditions, which also reflects in the flavor quality. Grain size is not a standard for every type of pepper in the world, but for Kampot pepper, it tells you a lot about quality.

The second important criterion is the weight and hardness of the fruit. It may be beautifully large, but when it weighs half as much as the other grains, it is clear that its core did not develop properly. Such a core can best be detected by immersion in water; in such a case, problematic (light, hollow) grains float to the surface and reveal their "color". :-)

Organic or not?

Last but not least, the quality of pepper also depends on chemical purity. We can proudly say that chemistry and our farmers are not friends and they prefer traditional and even more sustainable methods that leave no room for chemical fertilizers or insecticides. They fertilize primarily with cow manure, and everything undergoes regular inspections by certified agricultural organizations. Our pepper is therefore not only 100% organic but also gluten-free and pure – it contains no additives, pesticides, or grain residues, which is common practice for "cheap peppers".

100% selection – a word behind which anything can hide

For us, it means that when you open a bag or a test tube, inside you will find 100% pepper only and no surprises like small stones, twigs, dust, or other impurities commonly found in chain store peppers. Achieving 100% quality is not easy – Kampot pepper must be hand-picked with tweezers by farmers in Cambodia and sent to us in the Czech Republic at about 98% purity. We then send it through a sortex machine, which detects even the last blade of grass and cleans the pepper to 100%. ☺