Photographer: Isa Zapata for Bloomberg Businessweek
Ari Weinzweig is a peppercorn obsessive. In 2024 his cult-favorite restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, used about 1,500 pounds—three-quarters of a ton—of the Tellicherry variety for his wildly popular black pepper fries as well as other menu staples. Such was the demand that it even began selling 2-ounce jars of the peppercorns, which are also available for $9.50 through the Zingerman’s website. He even named his black-and-white corgi Pepper.
The spice, historically the culinary world’s most versatile and in-demand character actor, is currently taking a star turn. Some chefs now name-check varietals on their menus, and Lior Lev Sercarz, owner of La Boîte, one of the industry’s preeminent spice suppliers, regards the interest as an extension of the obsession for ingredients such as salt and coffee. It doesn’t hurt that piperine, an alkaloid found in black pepper, has been credited not only with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties but also with increasing serotonin levels, conferring a sense of well-being.
“Good-quality pepper is strong flavored, aromatically complex and palate tingling,” says another peppercorn enthusiast, Madalyn Durrant, chef-partner of Chicago’s Bar Parisette. “And yet it manages to complement a wide array of other flavors without overwhelming them.”
The rainbow of different peppercorns to know is expanding. Jeremy Chan, chef of the adventurous two-Michelin-star Ikoyi in London, keeps about 30 varieties on hand, including Penja peppercorns grown in the volcanic soils of Cameroon and pungent, dusky red Cambodian Kampot peppercorns. The strawberry- and citrus-tinged gola peppercorns from Sierra Leone provide a bright counterpoint to the richness of his caramelized chicken wing broth.
“Fifteen years ago the premium pepper market was nonexistent,” Chan says. Now the public is clueing in to its vastness, “from floral to smoky, aromatic to almost infinitely lingering.”
Swordfish au poivre, at the Otter in New York, uses Tellicherry and Madagascar green peppercorns for a double-fruity heat punch. Source: The Otter
Increasingly restaurants are featuring au poivre preparations as an adaptable, irresistible showcase for peppercorn pyrotechnics. At Recoveco in South Miami, chefs Nicolas Martinez and Maria Teresa Gallina serve a rib-eye with a red banana au poivre sauce. (Coincidentally it’s inspired by a recipe in Chan’s Ikoyi cookbook.) Their version calls for a half-dozen peppercorn varieties, including local black and fresh green ones grown trellised between sapodilla trees about 20 miles southwest in Redland.
The Portrait Bar at New York’s Fifth Avenue Hotel features a $20 hot dog au poivre in which a spread of earthy Tellicherry and citrusy Sarawak peppers delivers “snap and spice,” says chef Andrew Carmellini.
Au poivre is proving to be just as well suited to surf as it is to turf. At Otter in Manhattan, chef Alex Stupak uses Tellicherry and Madagascar green peppercorns to coat swordfish steaks and generously sprinkles more pepper on the accompanying fries, making for one of Bloomberg’s best dishes of the year. At the ambitious Provenance in Philadelphia, chef Nich Bazik opts out of giving the fish steak a crusty sear; instead, he poaches it in clarified butter infused with an assortment of peppercorns including Tellicherry, red Kampot, Timut, green Szechuan and long peppercorns.
Look hard enough, and you’ll find peppercorns across all courses. At Manhattan’s Midtown cocktail bar Monkey Thief, spiky-tailed comet peppers are the magic ingredient in the Major Tom cocktail, which is modeled on the Thai soup tom kha. Cheetie Kumar, chef and co-owner of Ajja in Raleigh, North Carolina, macerates strawberries with Tellicherry pepper for her custardlike posset dessert.
The primacy of peppercorns can’t be understated, says Scott Franqueza, executive chef of High Hampton in Cashiers, on the other side of the state, where the signature dish is peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin served with a green peppercorn jus. “The peppercorn is almost as, if not more, important than the beef itself.”
Peppercorn Varieties to Know Now
Chefs rely on a small coterie of importers and merchants whose colorful peppercorns crack with an intensity of flavor.
BLACK: Think of the Curio Spice Co.’s Sri Lankan black pepper as the perfectly tailored blue blazer of spices. Its cleanly pungent medium heat goes well with everything. $9 for 2 oz
PURPLE: Burlap & Barrel’s direct trade approach turns up uncommon spices such as Vietnamese Vinh Linh peppercorns. Fully ripened on the vine before drying, they sport an indigo hue and a sweet strawberry scent. Grind some onto tomatoes, peaches or berries. $12 for 2.2 oz
WHITE: Grown in the volcanic soil of Cameroon’s Penja Valley, Kalustyan’s petite peppercorns are mildly musky, with a sharp—though not intense—heat and a woodsy finish. $8 for 1 oz
GREEN: Part of the Voyager Collection, a collaboration between famed chef Eric Ripert and La Boîte spices, these green peppercorns are harvested before they ripen and then freeze-dried. The process preserves their herbal, slightly tart taste and renders them mild and crisp enough to eat whole. $9 for 1.25 oz
RED: Peppercorns from Cambodia’s Kampot region are some of the world’s most prized. Among them, the reddish-orange ones sold by Zen Spice Traders (and sourced from producer La Plantation) are particularly treasured for their distinctive sweetness and prickly heat. $18 for 4 oz
PINK: Sure, pink peppercorns technically aren’t from the same genus as most black and white peppers. You want them anyway. Spicewalla’s come from the Brazilian Schinus terebinthifolius, in the cashew family, with a sweet-tart taste that’s as bright as their colorful hulls. $8 for 0.7 oz
COMET TAIL: Not all peppercorns are round. Curio Spice Co.’s comet tail, or cubeb, pepper is a distinct species. Distinguished by its trailing stem and minimal heat, it goes particularly well with citrus and often appears as a botanical in gin. $12 for 1.75 oz
LONG RED KAMPOT: Before round black pepper was king, the long variety dominated spice routes. The red Kampots from the Reluctant Trading Experiment carry a little more heat, with a compelling musky-fruity scent. $12 for 2 oz