As one of our first four original spices, our black pepper will always have a special place in my heart. Meeting our pepper farm partner Parameswaran and trying his pepper for the first time was the start of a beautiful relationship centered around the most incredible, flavorful pepper.
Aranya Black Pepper is grown in Kerala in a food forest where the pepper vines climb bamboo and palm trees alongside coffee trees and the occasional tiger. Parameswaran has been naturally farming black pepper for over 35 years, now supported by his son Akash, who was raised on the farm and left only to get an MBA and then return to dedicate his life to the farm. You can read our interview with Akash here, describing life on the farm, and the challenges they face due to climate change.
It’s sometimes hard to describe just how incredible this pepper is. Besides being naturally grown, it is vine-ripened and harvested only at peak ripeness. Meaning, because the pepper ripens at different times, they sometimes harvest 6-8 times a season, which is 6-8 times the work. And that ripeness is what gives the pepper such a wildly delicious depth of flavor and potency which has redefined what pepper is supposed to taste like for so many of us!
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