Early last week I decided on a whim to see what Rob at Salt Traders was up to. Almost 2 years ago I was shown the light (thanks J. Lee) and bought a few bottles of their Danish Viking-Smoked Sea Salt. As you can glean from my post, it’s pretty cool stuff. Well, I got myself some more. What I also picked up were some fancy peppercorns, mmmmm pepper. In fact, I got a gaggle of goodies and it’s going to take me more than a few posts to get through them all. I decided to start with the Balinese Long Peppercorns because they were the most intriquing.

Intriquing you ask? Yes, because the box is one of those you know will make a really cool stash/curio box. It’s durable, brown and fits in your jacket pocket easy. When I slid the box open, it was FILLED, no, PACKED tightly with these odd looking corns. Immediately I stuck my nose to it and got a whiff of a perfumy waft. I’m wondering if this Balinese pepper tree has flowers too, surely it would have to. I tossed a corn in to my mortar, boy these little guys really snap around. In a moment I had a decent grind and pulled it out. Looked at it, a handful of colors. I wet the end of my finger and dabbed, tasted. The outter shell has a crunchy give with a warm start. Then as more of the corn moves about, the inner portion gives you that little peppery punch. This goes back & forth a bit with a tad of the perfume action.
Given the colors, texture and warm aroma of this pepper, one could use it against food that would contrast in color and not over-power it or more heartier applications such as dry rubs for huge hunks of pork. This pepper is there for you, simple or comlex. Speaking of food, I apologize for not cooking with it, but it’s only been 12 hours since it arrived and I was too excited not to do a show-and-tell. These are the kinds of deliveries that cause you to consider taking a few days off so you can be alone in your kitchen all day.
Xo Xo