Three peppercorns

This three pepper mix will enhance all your daily dishes with its perfect balance of flavours

This delicious mix bringing together fresh green pepper, strong flavoured white pepper and spicy black pepper is perfect ground and sprinkled over your grilled meat and fish.

A unique mix of three Piper nigrum

Piper nigrum: the King of peppers

Terre Exotique’s three pepper mix uses Piper nigrum peppers. Traditionally known as the King of peppers, Piper nigrum is mainly grown in South America and South-East Asia. This pepper grows on a creeper, using stakes to climb as high as four metres, depending on the climate. The fertile volcanic soils of Cameroon, and the tropical climate of Madagascar, offer the perfect conditions for Piper nigrum to thrive.

The peppers in this mix are picked at different stages

The three peppers in this mix have different colours, which is simply linked to the stage at which each pepper is harvested. The youngest pepper is the green pepper which is picked when the drupes are still underripe. Green pepper is slightly spicy and fresh and moderately strong. The next in line is black pepper which is harvested just before it is fully ripe and is then left out to dry in the sun for several days. Black pepper keeps its pericarp. Last but not is white pepper which is picked when fully ripe. It is then dried and retted, which means it is left to soak and then rinsed several times so that the peppercorns lose their pericarp. Only the heart is kept which is where all the tasty aromas are stored.

An outstanding trio.

Terre Exotique’s mix of peppers is the fruit of many trials and tasting sessions to get just the right mix of flavours. This recipe has been created with great care to get the perfect balance of powerful aromas of the three peppers. Three pepper mix includes:

• Freeze-dried green pepper from Madagascar. This young pepper is not as strong as the other two. It releases fresh yet spicy notes, with hints of lime and mint.

• Black Penja pepper from Cameroon. The spiciness of black pepper is ardent and intense. It releases notes of menthol, but also camphor, leather and incense.

• White Penja pepper from Cameroon. The strongest of the three peppers, with animal notes of horse hair. Fiery and fierce, it really enhances this pepper mix.

How to get the best from this three pepper mix

Use this three pepper mix in your pepper mill for all your daily dishes

This three pepper mix provides the perfect balance of flavours and spiciness, so you can use it in all your daily dishes. Ideal as an initiation to the wondrous world of peppers, but also as a day-to-day pepper. Crack it over red meat, grilled fish, vegetables, soups or gratins. Use it in sauces, letting its aromas develop deliciously. Grind it in your pepper mill or in a pestle and mortar, depending on how fine you want it.

Three pepper crusted beef

Start by roughly cracking the three pepper mix with a pestle and mortar. Spread the pepper out evenly on a baking tray. If you prefer a finer grind, use your pepper mill. Smother your beef with melted butter. Salt your meat, then roll it in the pepper, to form a crust. Roast for 20 minutes in the oven. On removing from the oven cover the joint in foil. In the meantime, prepare the sauce by reducing the meat juices mixed with some beef stock. Thicken with some cream, add some salt and a grind of three pepper mix. Serve the beef with the sauce and enjoy!

Where does pepper come from?

When did pepper cultivation start?

It would appear that the first pepper creepers were found over 4000 years ago growing up trees on the Malabar coast of West India. “Pippali” in Sanskrit became “piper” in Latin. It was discovered in 1498 by Vasco de Gama, like many other 15th century explorers in search of peppers and spices who returned home with their vessels laden with these exotic treasures.

In Penja and Madagascar, two stories of pepper

Pepper has grown on the island of Madagascar, in the Indian ocean off the East coast of the African continent since the 16th century. It was brought to Europe by explorers who had set up trading posts on the island. In Penja, in the province of Moungo in Cameroon, pepper appeared in the 1930’s. This is one of the most recent introductions of pepper outside its natural habitat. Only 18 tons of Penja pepper are harvested each year, making it a truly exclusive and precious pepper.