A beginning in the Middle Ages
Like all peppers in the world, of the piper nigrum genus , Kampot pepper originally comes from Kerala in India. It is in the mountains of Western Ghats (west of Kerala) that the botanical origin of pepper plants is found.
In the 13th century, it was imported by the Chinese to South East Asia which benefits from ideal climatic conditions and a suitable land for its cultivation. The first crops were grown in the north of the island of Sumatra, then it drifted to the Cambodian coast.
Zhou Daguan, a Chinese diplomat, known for his accounts of Cambodian customs and the temple complexes of Angkor, described them for the first time in the 13th century. Pepper cultivation was essentially a food crop.
A productive momentum under the French protectorate
At the end of the 19th century the French colonized part of South East Asia to make Indochina. Cambodia will pass under French protectorate on August 11, 1863.
The French established an intensive production system for growing pepper in the Kampot region. They gave it the name “Kampot pepper” and managed to produce more than 8,000 tons of pepper per year. Mainly in France; this pepper gained its reputation. From the 1920s it was already considered the finest pepper. A precious reference that must be had in all the beautiful starred restaurants.
Political instability and global competition ended up severely weakening this model. In the 1960s, production had fallen by more than half (3000 tonnes/year)
From decline to global recognition
In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge regime considered peppercorns to be a symbol of colonialism. Furthermore, they considered that pepper brings nothing to the worker or to the nation. Only rice was vital. So they forced farmers to grow rice instead. The pepper plantations were thus uprooted
It wasn't until the late 1990s, long after the Khmer Rouge had lost power, that local farmers, many of whom had generations of pepper farming in their veins, returned to their roots. At the time, farmers were impoverished, so they turned to what they knew: the same farming practices that had run in their families for generations, and almost all did it on small plots of land.
From one pepper plant, we can reproduce 3 others by cuttings each year. The time to recreate the plantations was particularly long. It took more than 15 years for Kampot pepper production to support several families.
This is how in the 2000s, a handful of passionate growers decided to relaunch the cultivation of Kampot pepper. Supported in particular by the Espelette pepper producers' union and a local NGO, these farmers obtained the IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) in 2010. Europe in 2016 also awarded it the AOP (Protected Designation of Origin). It is a real recognition for this precious pepper.
Its terroir, its climatic conditions, the care taken by the producers make this pepper one of the world references.
The Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA) is responsible for ensuring compliance with the very strict specifications governing production and marketing. The authenticity of Kampot pepper is further validated by the affixing of a logo. This must appear on your container, certifying its origin.
Kampot pepper is found in different maturities and processing: green pepper, black pepper, white pepper, yellow pepper and red pepper. Each of these stages brings a different strength and aromatic expression.
Max Daumin
Max Daumin Spices
Gold 2017-2018 Silver 2020 - 2021 Bronze 2019 | National delicatessen trophy
Artisanal producer of the Culinary College of France 2021