Flavor: Hot/Spicy
Major Flavour Compound: Piperine
Parts Used: Dried fruit
Long pepper, chiefly Piper retrofractum, was the ancient “King of Spices” before black pepper’s rise. Traded for over 2,000 years from South and Southeast Asia to Greece, Rome, China, and medieval Europe, it shaped medicine, cuisine, and commerce. Its decline followed the spread of chilies and cheaper black pepper. Phytochemically rich in piperamides, terpenoids, and glycosides, long pepper delivers deep, sweet heat and woody aroma. Today it remains essential to Northern Thai phrik laap, sustaining its culinary and cultural legacy.
