Kampot Pepper.
Famous throughout the world.
(in fact, the only world famous Pepper)
This is the black pepper that you eat everyday, but here we also have white, red and green pepper. The green pepper is fresh off the pepper plant, before it’s dried.
It costs 3 to 10 times more than plain old black pepper.
Kampot Pepper comes from KEP.
Until recently, Kep was part of Kampot Province.
And this is where it all started.
You can get free tours of Pepper Plantations here in Kep, mostly on Pepper Street (see the map below).
They all sell their own Pepper in their stores.
A few have restaurants and souvenirs as well.
Sothy’s Pepper Farm has the best demonstration of how Kampot Pepper is processed.
Ny Ann Pepper Farm has the only air-con restaurant and coffee shop here.
Covid brought down several Pepper Farms Kep, and recent droughts brought down a few more places here.
Kampot Pepper in Kep, Cambodia.
The Real Story.
Cambodia’s finest pepper, produced only in Kampot, Cambodia (but really it started in Kep. Kep province was carved out of Kampot province several years ago). Pepper farms are mainly concentrated on Pepper Street. The pepper, which is almost all exported, is considered the finest pepper worldwide. Black, Red, White or Green, it all works.
The Green Pepper is fresh pepper from the vines. It has a short shelf life. It’s used in a lot of Cambodian recipes. Red Pepper occurs naturally, about 10% of the time on a vine (that’s why it costs more). White Pepper is Red Pepper soaked in water a few days and the skin is peeled off. (costs even More) Black Pepper is the green peppercorn after it is dried in the sun a few days. The Red, Black and White are all sun dried at some point.
You can visit a pepper plantation on your trip to Kep. All the tour services have special Pepper Tours, or you can just get out to the farms yourself.
Kampot, Kep’s neighbor, also has many Kampot Pepper Plantations. Until the late 2000’s, Kep was part of Kampot. Also, Kampot Pepper originally comes from what is now Kep Province, the smallest province in Cambodia.
The unique flavor of Kampot Pepper is thought to come from the quartz content in the soil here, but nobody really knows. (except Norbert)
Also, all the Certified Kampot Pepper is organically grown, and chemical free.
The pepper grown here is under the World Trade Organization’s Geographical Indication (GI) status starting in 2010, and is sought out worldwide for its taste. (it also costs a whole lot more than your average pepper)
(Special thanks to Norbert, the World’s Leading Kampot Pepper Expert, from Sothy’s Pepper Farm in Kep, for a whole lot of this. info)
Many of these Kampot Pepper farms also have a variety of local fruit trees and vegetables growing on the farm, and you’ll probably be interested in these too!
