CUBEB PEPPER - tailored pepper, piper cubeba. This pepper is also sometimes called java pepper.
Cubebs are the fruit of a tropical vine of the pepper family native to Java and other Indonesian islands. Cubebs have a warm, pleasant aroma, lightly peppery but also allspice-like, with a whiff of eucalyptus and turpentine. Cooking this pepper brings out the allspice flavor.
We recommend using Cubeb pepper with meat and vegetable dishes. It combines well with bay, cardamom, cinnamon, curry leaf, rosemary, sage, thyme, and turmeric.
Consists of the dried berries, similar in appearance to black pepper, but with stalks attached – the "tails" in "tailed pepper".
HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE: The dried pericarp is wrinkled, and its color ranges from grayish brown to black. The seed is hard, white, and oily. The odor of cubebs is described as agreeable and aromatic and the taste as pungent, acrid, slightly bitter, and persistent.
TIP: WHERE TO USE:
Garam masala is a spice blend widely used in Indian cuisine, from curries and lentil dishes to soups. Whole spices of cinnamon, mace, cubeb peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and cardamon pods are toasted in a pan to release their aromatic flavors, then ground to a powder.
Read more about this cubeb berry here!