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Every year we organize a Czech pepper expedition and take our colleagues, customers, and friends to the farms. This year's expedition was once again "shocking". At the end of the day, we asked what surprised them the most about working with Kampot pepper. Terezka "You have to wait 4 years for the pepper plant to grow! That's incredible patience. Moreover, since it is organic, it's insanely sensitive.""Most farms still draw water from irrigation ponds by hand with buckets, walking kilometers, and yet everyone remains positive and smiling." Aničk "I came thinking it would be like blueberries, but the pepper is 4 meters tall!""Red pepper is terribly tricky! After all, you have to pick it berry by berry because each berry ripens at a different time." Martina "This is my second time here. I really like seeing that farms have finally started to expand and plant new plants. When we first arrived, the farms were dying." Nikola "I was surprised how little pepper you get from the hard work of one plant in a year! I calculated it, and this field provides the whole family with only about 200 kg of pepper." Jana "I was shocked that from just one green pepper berry, all types of Kampot peppers result, and that the taste is just a matter of ripening time. And that therefore, the white pepper is the most demanding of all because you pick it berry by berry last and it still has to be peeled."

To what kind of tomato can you develop a greater relationship: the one you find on the department store shelf, or the one you grow yourself in your garden and know everything about from start to finish? I think we all can guess the answer.  Although you cannot grow our pepper at home in your garden bed due to unfavorable geological conditions, you can learn the beginning and end of the tradition of cultivating Kampot pepper in distant Cambodia. Thanks to this, you will love the wrinkled berries we bring to your table just as much as that red tomato.   Every pepper plant receives proper care The story of the grain begins on a hill or at the foot of mountain ranges, which offer the pepper vines the right sandy or rocky soil. Farmers must properly drain this soil or plant the vines on a slope so that water does not accumulate at the roots. Drainage systems also serve this purpose; they surround the plantations and reach a depth of at least 80 centimeters. Two types of pepper are grown in Kampot, called Kamchay and Lampong. However, locals simply refer to them as plants with small leaves and plants with large leaves. Why use complicated names when it can be simple? Newly planted plants must come from the area designated as Kampot geographically. Pure, chemical-free, in harmony with nature Planting of pepper vines takes place in carefully selected local spots, and each plant must be spaced at least 1.8 meters apart. Plants must be sheltered for at least three years to protect them from sharp Kampot sun. Wooden poles serve to support the vines as they climb, as well as fertilizers. However, forget about any chemicals. All fertilizers come from natural sources. These are primarily manure from domestic animals and also bat guano. Fertilizing takes place at least once a year, and at most four times a year, from May to July. During dry periods, it is necessary to provide water to the plants. That is why the vines must be near a water source suitable for irrigation. At the same time, from June to December, the soil must be regularly loosened to prevent water from running off the surface and to allow it to penetrate the roots as best as possible. Farmers must also constantly monitor the presence of pests.   Forget about the Colorado potato beetle; here the biggest enemy is termites. Their elimination, of course, is done naturally. Chemical substances are allowed only when nature does not help. In such cases, farmers may use only products approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the morning, they get up and head out to their pepper plantation bathed in sunlight. The sun rays, filtering through the leaves of the pepper vines, tickle the Cambodian farmers' faces until evening, when it's time to go back home. This scenario repeats day after day until it's time to harvest and dry the peppercorns, followed by selling the crop. For some farmers, this is a joyful final touch to their work, for others, a very demanding task that determines the future of their entire family. Why is it difficult for some farmers to sell their pepper, even though there is demand for it on the market? It might seem that farmers have no problem selling pepper of the quality that Kampot has. Unfortunately, the opposite is true in some cases, caused by several factors. The first stems from the problematic search for buyers. Many farms are located in remote places where traders do not want to travel – so farmers have to go to the traders. If they actually find one, a second problem arises, which is the language barrier.  Kampot pepper is primarily an export item, which means it is purchased by foreign traders who mostly do not speak Khmer. Therefore, communication between a small farmer and a foreign trader is often very problematic. We know which farmers need the most help However, the game is not won even at the moment when both trading partners agree. The production of some farms is so small that big traders simply are not interested. Buying from such a farm is not profitable for them as they would like. Farmers often have no choice but to sell their crop below price to at least get some financial reward for their work. And that is a great shame because pepper from such farmers is often far higher quality than pepper from large farms usually owned by foreigners, who see them only as a source of finance, to which the entire production is subordinated. We have decided to find our own way to avoid such pepper, to find our own and at the same time help the locals. We try to lend a hand precisely to those family farmers who are smaller, do not speak English, find it difficult to travel to the city, and get their pepper to the market. But these are exactly the families who know the surroundings of Kampot as perfectly as no one else. Also its exceptional soil, walked on for generations. And it is thanks to them that we can offer you pepper that has no equal in the world. 

If you ever travel to the Cambodian region of Kampot, you will definitely come across strange plantations covered with palm leaves, which may resemble domestic hop fields. As you probably suspect, these are plantations of black pepper, which, thanks to favorable climatic conditions and a traditional approach to its cultivation, produce the best peppercorns in the world right here. They are the main livelihood of about a few hundred local farmers, who come to the plantations every day under the sunlight to take care of their black gold, as the locals call their pepper. Farmers have to deal with several natural elements at once It is precisely the sharp sun rays that are the reason why individual pepper vines are covered with palm leaves, which protect them from scorching. This is also taken care of by the shields of the Bokor Mountains, which provide much-needed shade.  However, the reason why farmers have their hands full every day with their plantations is not the sun, but primarily pests. There are several ways to combat them. The less responsible ones use chemical pesticides, but you will not encounter their pepper with us. Our pepper comes only from farms that deal with pests using traditional natural methods. These are also supplemented by manure and guano obtained from caves inhabited by bats, which nourish the plants in the right way. There is not a day when farmers do not check all the grains from the pepper plantations The harvest season comes between February and May. During this time, the hardest work begins, when farmers manually pick individual clusters of Kampot peppercorns, which they then process further. The processing procedure is no less demanding; the grains must be separated from the stem, briefly boiled, and then spread out on mats to dry in the sun, during which they acquire their characteristic coloring. Outside the harvest season, farmers also enjoy a lot of work, mainly planting or daily checking of the grains – for example, red Kampot pepper is picked only from fully ripe berries, so a whole day of hard work might bring you just a small cup of pepper. After harvesting, each grain is carefully sorted with tweezers (due to their size), packed, and shipped. Read about how even the Package itself can be demanding! Therefore, pepper cultivation is very labor-intensive work, leaving the neck sunburned and hands full of calluses. Historically, farmers were not adequately rewarded for their hard work. And this is exactly what we at .pepper..field are trying to change. 

Believe it or not, that pungent pepper is actually a fruit. That might be even less believable than the fact that a watermelon is a vegetable! In reality, it is a fleshy fruit with a seed inside, which, like the grapevine, grows in elongated clusters on a plant known as piper nigrum, or black peppervine. The peppervine did not earn the nickname “black gold” for nothing This plant originates from the Indian subcontinent but is now cultivated in many tropical regions, especially in Southeast Asia. It is said that money doesn’t grow on trees, but in the case of pepper, that was somewhat true in ancient times. During the Middle Ages and the early modern period, it was a highly sought-after commodity that was traded for gold. However, it required a great deal of patience. Black peppervine is a very slow-growing plant, best described as a vine that only starts bearing fruit after four years of growth. It reaches peak size and productivity after seven years but can continue to produce the so-called black gold, as pepper was once called, for another 20 years. Mild partial shade, plenty of water, and controlled harvesting – that is life among the pepper vines Surprisingly, the peppervine plant does not like direct sunlight, and therefore it thrives mainly in partial shade. The most common method of cultivation is plantations. Anyone who remembers hop-picking work would feel like they were back in the old days among the climbing plants hanging towards the ground. The usual height of such cultivated vines is 4 to 5 meters. However, the plant can grow up to 15 meters if conditions are favorable. When harvest time comes, the pepper is picked, usually by hand, cluster by cluster. Pickers place it into prepared sacks and then process it further. To give pepper its characteristic black color, farmers harvest it while it is still green. It is then spread out in the sun, and the exposure to light and air turns it black, shrinks it, and intensifies its flavor. Only when the pepper is shriveled and has the right blackish-gray color does the ideal time come to pack and send it. Perhaps directly to your table.

Human culture has given rise to a number of incredible products that stand out for their uniqueness and long-standing tradition. To make it easy to distinguish these products from similar but less quality ones, they are awarded a geographical indication trademark. This trademark also protects the uniqueness of the pepper grown in the Kampot region, which is unrivaled in the world. The trademark works the same way as Champagne in France Thanks to the so-called protected geographical indication, buyers are assured that they hold a product in their hands that will surprise them with its exceptional character, which is largely determined by the geographical area where it was produced. To better understand how this method of product protection works, let's use one of the most famous examples that is protected by a geographical indication. It is Champagne wine, a drink that must not be missing at any significant event. You don't have to be a wine expert to know that Champagne comes from the French province of Champagne-Ardenne. The fertile slopes here are ideal for growing delicate sparkling wine with a specific taste. However, sparkling wines are also grown in other parts of France and even in other parts of the world. Therefore, it was necessary to clearly distinguish for consumers which wine should be labeled as the true Champagne and which is just its distant relative. Olomouc curd cheeses, French wine, and Kampot pepper have a lot in common Besides, on our journey to exceptional products from specific locations, we don't have to go far at all. We have 23 of them right here in the Czech Republic. If you have ever tasted the traditional Wallachian frgál, explored what is hidden between the crispy layers of Hořice wafers, or wrinkled your nose at Olomouc curd cheeses, then you have most likely had the honor of encountering a purely Czech product with a protected geographical indication. Just like the sparkling treasure from France or the matured delicacy from Olomouc, peppercorns grown in the Cambodian Kampot region are also uniquely protected by this trademark worldwide. The location in the south of the country offers exceptional conditions for growing pepper in the form of fertile soil combined with the humid climate coming from the sea and the shadows cast by the peaks of the Bokor Mountains. A national treasure needs to be cared for It is precisely this place that influences the specific taste of the local peppercorn fruits. However, this is not the only difference that distinguishes Kampot pepper from others. A big role in the uniqueness of this spice is also played by the way it is grown, which in the families of local farmers has been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. No mechanization, no pesticides, and only natural fertilizers. Everything here is in maximum harmony with nature and the refined taste of this pepper. And that is exactly the reason why this pepper was granted a  geographical trademark. Thanks to it, no other product can claim to be this specific pepper. No counterfeit that does not come from the picturesque Kampot, does not contain residues of chemical fertilizers and sprays, and whose taste is only a bland imitation of the real original, can deprive you of the unique experience of Kampot pepper. However, the trademark of this pepper also protects the farmers who grew it. It is proof of their diligence and daily determination to fulfill their dreams through sweat and calluses on their hands.

Red pepper is Cambodia's sweet flagship – only a few countries in the world can grow it. Why? The harvesting process is extremely demanding and the climatic conditions for the grain's ripening must be perfect – this combination is provided only by the Kampot region in Cambodia, which is renowned for its true red pepper. On one farm, you can produce maybe only a cup of red pepper per day It is therefore extremely rare. Red Kampot pepper is harvested at full ripeness of the berry, which is usually at the end of the season in April/May, when the berry ripens in the sun for several months before it is completely red and full of juicy fructose. Unlike black pepper, it is not harvested along the entire stem, but farmers carefully monitor when some of the berries on the stem ripen to their orange-red color and at that moment they pick – this one single berry. Thanks to its long ripening, this pepper is moister and juicier than all the others, but at the same time it is the most susceptible to cultivation. It also attracts small birds with its color, which gladly peck at it, so every protected berry is very precious. After harvesting, red pepper is boiled in hot water, then soaked in cold water and dried in the shade. The cherry-red berries are incredibly sweet and fruity; the first flavors you notice are forest fruits, apples, rose, cherry, and rosehip. At first, it doesn't burn, but after one minute this spiciest of peppers unfolds and literally creates a pepper explosion in your mouth. It is said to be the most aromatic pepper in the world. Only from true red pepper can genuine white pepper be obtained It is its kernel that is obtained by soaking red pepper in water and peeling off the skin. Common white peppers in stores are incorrectly obtained by peeling black pepper, which is unripe and becomes musty after peeling. Beware of fake peppers Pink pepper, commonly available in spice blends, is nicely colored but grows on the branches of Brazilian pepper tree, so it is just a poor relative of true pepper. The same goes for cayenne pepper, whose name arose from a mistranslation; it is actually ground chili peppers. The red pepper you have known so far is therefore not true red pepper at all and has completely different flavor properties. Read more about these fake peppers in our article. But what to expect from red pepper in the kitchen This pepper is the flavor opposite of black pepper. Do not put it on meat – it pairs only with fish or seafood; on the contrary, as the king of cold cuisine, you will love it in combination with vegan and vegetarian dishes, salads, vegetables, eggs, vegetable soups, risotto, sweet desserts, and cocktails. In Czech cuisine, it is a popular spice for Christmas baking – incidentally, the Czech word for gingerbread (perník) is originally derived from pepper, which used to be an integral part of it!