This is a climbing perennial plant native to the islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo. It is grown on trees which shade plantations of other plants from the tropical sun. Of all the peppers used in cookery this is the most aromatic, which accounts, perhaps, for its lack of popularity in Europe.
In the Middle Ages it was a very popular plant in Europe, particularly in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Its uses are many. The fleshy leaves may be cooked and eaten like spinach. In France it is used to make an excellent, vitamin-rich, green salad and in the Middle East it is a common ingredient of mixed salads called lattoush'.
According to old English recipes the leaves may be pickled like capers. They may be used as a delicate flavouring in creamed vegetable soups and in piquant mayonnaises served with meat and fish. When using purslane in cooked foods the finely chopped leaves should be added at the end of cooking to retain their delicate flavour and precious vitamins.
Besides being far more pungent, pepper cubeb is also morphologically different from black pepper and long pepper. Though the fruits (berries) resemble those of black pepper they appear to have long stalks (these stalks arc actually elongated ovaries). They are harvested before they ripen so that the surface becomes wrinkled during the drying process.
The strong biting quality of cubeb is not caused by piperine, as in black pepper, but by cubebine and by the large amount of essential oil they contain (as much as 12% whereas black pepper contains 4% at the most).
For this reason it is recommended to buy peppers whole, not ground, and to grind them just before use. - 15266
In the Middle Ages it was a very popular plant in Europe, particularly in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Its uses are many. The fleshy leaves may be cooked and eaten like spinach. In France it is used to make an excellent, vitamin-rich, green salad and in the Middle East it is a common ingredient of mixed salads called lattoush'.
According to old English recipes the leaves may be pickled like capers. They may be used as a delicate flavouring in creamed vegetable soups and in piquant mayonnaises served with meat and fish. When using purslane in cooked foods the finely chopped leaves should be added at the end of cooking to retain their delicate flavour and precious vitamins.
Besides being far more pungent, pepper cubeb is also morphologically different from black pepper and long pepper. Though the fruits (berries) resemble those of black pepper they appear to have long stalks (these stalks arc actually elongated ovaries). They are harvested before they ripen so that the surface becomes wrinkled during the drying process.
The strong biting quality of cubeb is not caused by piperine, as in black pepper, but by cubebine and by the large amount of essential oil they contain (as much as 12% whereas black pepper contains 4% at the most).
For this reason it is recommended to buy peppers whole, not ground, and to grind them just before use. - 15266
