Now in a grinder-top jar! Black pepper grows in bunches like grapes, on a climbing vine. Most black peppercorns are harvested while still green, and the drying process gives them their distinctive dark skin. These peppercorns are allowed to ripen longer on the vine before being hand-picked and sun-dried, resulting in a rich chocolate-colored pepper berry with dense wrinkles and a bright, fruity spiciness.
Burlap & Barrel is the exclusive importer of Zanzibar black pepper into the United States. This pepper, like all of B&B’s spices from Zanzibar, are grown organically.
Bloomberg writes that this pepper's flavor “punches through with fruitiness and heat—and totally redefines a spice you thought you knew.”
ORIGIN: Zanzibar, Tanzania
Process: Sun-dried
Ingredients: 100% whole black peppercorns (Piper nigrum)
Tasting notes: Cacao • Lemon • Tropical Heat
COOKING:
Grind fresh onto anything and everything
Saute ground with butter and cheese and drizzle over pasta for Cacio e Pepe
Cook a few tablespoons with butter, shallots, and creme for an Au Poivre sauce
In Spiced Winter Squash (community recipe)
In Chickpea Sumac Salad (community recipe)
Pairs well with: Silk Chili, Smoked Pimenton Paprika, Cured Sumac
SOURCING:
B&B sources their Zanzibar black pepper from a cooperative of smallholder artisan farmers on the Zanzibar islands off of the eastern coast of Tanzania, many of whose families have been growing pepper and other spices (including our cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg) for generations. Black pepper grows in bunches, like grapes, on a climbing vine and are mostly harvested while still green. These peppercorns are allowed to ripen a little longer, where the pepper turns more orange, before it is hand-picked and sun-dried into a rich chocolate-colored peppercorn berry. It is optimal to store and keep the peppercorns whole as ground peppercorn loses its flavor and aroma very rapidly.
