protein
Lobster & crab
Black Kampot, cracked at the table
PGI · Cambodia · 2010
Kampot Pepper
The pepper that sommeliers taste like wine.
300
licensed producers
certified under PGI
2010
year of PGI recognition
a first for Cambodia
7
to 10 days sun-drying
on bamboo racks
3
years from vine to first harvest
then 15+ years of yield
Grown on red, iron-rich soil along the Kampot River in southern Cambodia, Kampot pepper is one of only two peppers in the world to hold a Protected Geographical Indication. Known for its clean heat, jasmine-like floral top notes, and eucalyptus finish, it is prized by chefs who refuse to treat pepper as a background note.
Kampot pepper grows on vines that climb up tall wooden stakes on small family farms spread along the Kampot and Kep coast of southern Cambodia. The region's unique quartz-rich sandy soil, salt-laden sea winds and humid monsoon climate produce peppercorns that carry a complexity unusual in the Piper nigrum species. The tradition dates back at least to the 13th century, was nearly destroyed during the Khmer Rouge years, and was painstakingly rebuilt in the 1990s and 2000s by a small group of returning farmers. Today only around 300 licensed producers may sell peppercorns under the Kampot name, governed by the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association. Each harvest is hand-picked and sun-dried on bamboo racks — every colour (black, red, white, green) comes from the same vine, simply picked or processed differently.
From vine to grain
From the vine to the grain.
On the vineHand-picked
Flavor profileA profile tasted
A profile tasted
like wine.
Top: jasmine, orange peel, pine. Mid: black tea, mint, eucalyptus. Base: warm wood, spice bread, clean lingering heat. Less aggressive than Tellicherry, more aromatic than Penja, sharper than Malabar. The finish is long and clean, not dusty.
botanicalpungentearthysweet
Origin
A terroir that exists nowhere else.
Kampot Province, Cambodia. PGI since 2010.
Cambodia
Kampot Province
Harvest
From the vine to your table.
01Year 1–3
The vine climbs
Piper nigrum is planted at the foot of 4–5 metre wooden stakes. It takes three years to bear its first berries.
02February
Peak ripeness
Families walk the rows hand-picking, choosing berries at the exact stage for black, red, white or green.
037–10 days
Sun-drying
Bamboo racks under the Gulf of Thailand sun. No machines. The grains wrinkle and darken.
04Manual
Size sorting
Every grain is passed through a sieve and an eye. Only those that meet the PGI gauge keep the Kampot name.
05Your jar
Whole, never ground
Shipped whole. Cracked only at the moment of use. 18 to 24 months of aroma if sealed.
Pairings
What it plays with.
protein
Steak au poivre
Rolled in Kampot salted peppercorns
protein
Oily fish
Salmon, mackerel — red Kampot
sweet
Strawberries
Red Kampot on fresh fruit
sweet
Dark chocolate
Black Kampot on a 70%+ bar
plant
Mushrooms
Oyster, portobello, sautéed
plant
Cacio e pepe
Freshly cracked, generous
sweet
Vanilla ice cream
Red Kampot, single grind on top
Grades & varieties
One vine, four colours.
01
Black Kampot
Mature unripe berries sun-dried 7–10 days. The workhorse grade. Complex, aromatic, moderate heat.
02
Red Kampot
Fully ripe berries. Rare — about one-tenth of total harvest. Sweeter, more fruity, aromatic nose of strawberry and dried fruit.
03
White Kampot
Red berries soaked to remove the outer skin. Cleaner, sharper, more piercing heat. Prized for light sauces and white fish.
04
Green Kampot
Unripe berries, fresh or quickly dried. Bright herbaceous nose, lower heat. Traditional in Khmer crab dishes and fresh sauces.
History
From the Khmer empire to your kitchen.
History
Pepper was already growing in Kampot when the 13th-century Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan described it in his account of the Angkorian empire. French colonial demand made Kampot pepper a worldwide export until the 1960s — French chefs of the era named it as the finest pepper they could source. The Khmer Rouge abolished the industry and many farmers were executed or displaced; the plantations were abandoned. Rebuilding began in the mid-1990s with a handful of surviving growers, supported later by the French NGO GRET. In 2010 Kampot pepper became the first Cambodian product to receive a Protected Geographical Indication.
Cultivation
The vine Piper nigrum is planted at the foot of 4–5 metre wooden stakes and takes three years to produce its first harvest. Farmers use no chemical pesticides; fertilisation relies on bat guano, cow manure and vegetable compost. The quartz sand and iron-rich laterite of the Kampot hills, along with the sea breeze from the Gulf of Thailand, are considered non-reproducible terroir factors by the PGI.
Harvest
Hand-picked between February and May. Green pepper is harvested unripe and sold fresh or quickly dried. Black pepper comes from mature but unripe berries dried in the sun for seven to ten days until they wrinkle and darken. Red pepper is picked fully ripe — rarer, sweeter, more aromatic. White pepper is red pepper soaked to remove its outer skin, revealing a cleaner, more piercing heat.
The craft
What no machine can replace.
The eye that sorts. The hand that picks on the right day. The knowledge of when a grain is ready. None of this will ever be done by a machine.
Producers we follow
The hands behind every grain.
Pick
La Plantation
Kampot Province · est. 2013
“A Belgian-French family farm near Kampot town that hand-picks, sun-dries and packs its own pepper on site.”
Founded in 2013 by a Belgian-French couple who fell in love with the region, La Plantation now stretches across 200 hectares of pepper vines, tropical fruit, and spice trees. They open their farm to visitors and sell directly to kitchens around the world.
MethodsOrganic certification, hand-picking, sun-drying on bamboo racks, no chemical inputs. Practice intercropping with banana, papaya and moringa.
Bopha Kampot
Kampot Province · est. 2009
“A cooperative of small Khmer family farms grouping around fifteen growers along the coast.”
Bopha was formed in 2009 to help small Khmer family producers reach international buyers without losing their independence. Each farm keeps its own vines; the cooperative handles certification, drying standards and export.
MethodsShared drying facilities, individual hand-picking on each plot, cooperative quality control and PGI certification.
Pick
Starling Farm
Kampot Province · est. 2005
“One of the pioneers of the Kampot pepper revival. A small family plantation reopened in the mid-2000s.”
Starling Farm was rebuilt on land abandoned during the Khmer Rouge era. Run by brothers who learned the craft from older villagers, it remains one of the smallest certified Kampot producers — deliberately so.
MethodsHand-picking at dawn, drying on bamboo trays lifted above ground level to catch the wind. No mechanical sorting — every grain is sized by sieve and by eye.
Seasonality
When the grain is at its best.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Peak hand-pickingTail harvestCellared, available
Recipes
Three ways to bring it out.
Main
Khmer crab with green Kampot
35 min
Main
Steak au poivre with red Kampot
25 min
Pasta
Cacio e pepe, generously cracked
20 min
Keep exploring
If you like this, try these too.
Frequent questions
The questions we get asked.
Three factors stack up: limited terroir (only the Kampot and Kep coast qualify), hand-picking by families at peak ripeness, and 7 to 10 days of sun-drying on bamboo with manual sorting. Yields are small, the PGI restricts production area, and every grain is size-graded by sieve and by eye.
Also known as
Cambodian pepper · Poivre de Kampot · Kampot peppercorns
Sources
- A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People, Zhou Daguan (1297)
- Kampot Pepper Promotion Association � PGI specifications (2010)
- GRET � Reviving Kampot pepper (2009)
- Protected Geographical Indications in Cambodia (2010)
- A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People, Zhou Daguan (1297)
- Kampot Pepper Promotion Association — PGI specifications (2010)
- GRET — Reviving Kampot pepper (2009)
- Protected Geographical Indications in Cambodia (2010)