Smoked white Penja pepper PGI

In what dishes to use smoked white Penja pepper?

Explore animal and suave flavors

Associated with characterful dishes, white Penja pepper is a real gem for all kitchens. Perfect with foie gras, chocolate, and certain cheeses, this pepper offers plenty of opportunities to use it! At Terre Exotique, Penja pepper holds a special place. It is the heart pepper of Erwann de Kerros, the one with which the whole story of Terre Exotique began. His trick? Adding crushed Penja pepper to a salad of red fruits composed of strawberries, raspberries, and currants to warm up fruity desserts. We had the idea of adding a smoky note to its aromatic complexity by smoking it ourselves for long hours beneath a beechwood fire.

How to use smoked white Penja pepper?

Our recipe ideas for using smoked white Penja pepper in your kitchen:

• Roasted asparagus with butter: crush the pepper and sprinkle it over the dish;

• Marinated strawberries with smoked white Penja pepper: add 6 grains of smoked white Penja to your strawberries in a closed container and let infuse overnight;

• Chocolate fondant with smoked white Penja pepper: add two pinches of smoked white Penja pepper to your cake batter then pour into a mold;

• Subtly smoked chocolate mousse: add 6 ground grains of smoked white Penja pepper to the melted chocolate;

• Pineapple, avocado, cucumber salad: sprinkle two pinches of ground pepper on your salad before tasting;

• Burrata with smoked pepper: sprinkle smoked white Penja pepper on your burrata before tasting;

• Pizza with smoked white Penja: sprinkle two pinches of smoked white Penja pepper into your pizza dough before assembling.

The aromas of smoked white Penja pepper: between animal and vegetal

This white pepper, obtained thanks to the fertile lands of Cameroon, offers suave and musky aromas in the mouth. While its attack is hot and spicy, it unfolds a succession of animal and herbaceous notes along its length, especially if you taste it crushed. The result is a complex pepper, balanced, which pairs perfectly with red meat or braised game. Smoked, it releases intense wood fire aromas that perfume both simple and complex dishes.

Smoked white Penja pepper, a suave and complex treasure from Cameroon

Piper nigrum is a giant vine that produces Penja pepper. It grows on a tree with rough and cracked bark that facilitates its ascent, often up to four meters in height. Its pollination occurs through rain, frequent in the Moungo region. In Cameroon, the soils are volcanic, rich, and fertile, which means that Penja pepper is very concentrated in essential oils and aromas. In the Moungo province in Cameroon, harvested at optimal maturity, Penja pepper grains are first washed then rid of their pulp before being dried in the sun. The various stages of production of this pepper are manual. They include harvesting, retting, cleaning, drying, and finally sorting. It is the women of the village who carry out the production of this exceptional pepper. Unlike other colors of pepper, white pepper is harvested at optimal maturity. It is then vigorously washed and dried to remove its husk (pericarp). This particularity gives it a powerful flavor.

Where does Penja pepper come from?

Terre Exotique and Penja pepper, the beginning of a great adventure

It was during a trip to Cameroon in the 1990s that Erwann de Kerros discovered the famous Penja pepper. Freshly graduated, Erwann had his first experience on a farm and developed a taste for pepper. It is here, in Penja, that the idea of Terre Exotique was born. Even now, every two years, Erwann de Kerros visits the Penja plantations to catch up with the pepper growers, dear to his heart. Penja pepper is thus the very first pepper that Terre Exotique sold before expanding its range of peppers and spices.

What is the difference between white, black, and green peppers?

What is the difference between white, black, and green peppers? The real difference is the maturity at which the pepper is harvested. Indeed, a green pepper is harvested before maturity, the notes will be fresh and lemony. As for black pepper, it is picked just before maturity and then dried in the sun. Its aromas will be spicy and full-bodied. Finally, white pepper is harvested at optimal maturity, dried, and then its husk is removed.

Penja pepper: a well-preserved traditional know-how

In 1930, Mr. Decré, a banana planter, began growing pepper by planting the first pepper plants in Penja. The production of Penja pepper is only 18 tons per year. Production is artisanal, indeed, the harvest of this pepper is done by hand, the cleaning method, drying as well as the sorting of pepper grains remain unchanged from generation to generation. This pepper is rare and precious with an exceptional taste. Penja pepper now enjoys worldwide gastronomic success! In 2014, it became the first Geographical Indication Protected (GI) pepper in Africa. A real recognition for this precious pepper.

Discover the travel diary: Return from Cameroon

Learn more about pepper

What is a "pepper"?

Piperology: the science that studies peppers

Piper nigrum, its colors and its great vintages