30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASEThis pepper grows on Phu Quoc island in southern Vietnam on the Gulf of Thailand. The sandy, well-drained soil, the intense sun and the heavy rains create conditions that have given Phu Quoc pepper a reputation reaching far beyond Vietnam. The Pham family, who took over an abandoned farm in the early 1990s, have spent decades developing their cultivation and harvest in a region that, according to legend, received its first pepper vines from a Malaysian prince who brought seeds from Kampot in Cambodia.
Late harvest means the peppercorns are left on the vine until they are fully red and ripe. It is a choice with economic consequences: the pepper weighs less once dried, takes more time and is more delicate. But the flavour is in a different category altogether. Sweet, round and soft with a distinct, lingering white-pepper heat that climbs slowly. This is not a confrontational pepper. It is a finishing pepper.
A mill is the right tool. Grind directly onto the dish just before serving: pasta, fried chicken, salad, roasted vegetables, cream sauce, shellfish. Try the simple combination of pepper, flake salt and lime juice alongside a grilled fish. You need nothing more.
