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Where to find Madagascar Black Pepper

boilsover

By boilsover
in Kitchen Consumer

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boilsover

boilsover

Posted
Posted

So a Parisian friend recently recommended to me Madagascar black pepper.  I was chagrined that she had a big 'ol bag purchased at G. Detou (where I'd just been, and couldn't go back).

 

Does anyone know of a dependable US source/vendor?  Rumor has it the French buy up most of it.

 

Thanks.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Are you speaking of voatsiperifery (Piper borbonense)?  I get mine from amazon just like everything else.

 

Unfortunately I see voatsiperifery is currently unavailable from amazon in the US.  Best of luck, it is nice stuff.  Try amazon.fr.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

Sir Spice (formerly Pepper Passion, from which I have been buying for years) is also sold out.  

You can inquire when the new crop will be in.

The pepper is in short supply because of some unfortunate natural disasters on the island - the same that devastated the vanilla crop.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

I just ordered some from Old Stone Market - it popped up in an online search and I realized that I had seen the site previously when it was recommended on a blog I follow.

The blog writer recommended the saffron.  

So I ordered a jar of the Madagascar black peppercorns, a tin of the saffron, and a jar of the lavender flowers because I have not been happy with the ones from the health food store.  Theirs used to be excellent, great flavor but the last batch I got was musty and very little flavor I took the bag back and was told they were "out of stock" so I got a refund.  I'm pretty sure there were other complaints.

Anyway, I am anxious to see how the Madagascar black pepper stacks up against my current favorite, Wynad pepper which is pricey but the flavor is extraordinary, especially on fruits, in fruit salads.  It is one of the few peppercorns that are ripened before picking.  

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

I just received my order of Madagascar Pepper from Old Stone Market.  The company is in Texas and they are great to deal with. Careful packaging and quick shipping.

I had a question and got an immediate response.  I recommend them highly!

 

 

59f3a97e24f19_ScreenShot2017-10-27at2_36_28PM.png.d78220864ae38667b8ffe0397c2cd5aa.png

It is very aromatic and is very flavorful.

My favorite way of tasting pepper is on a buttered saltine (unsalted butter) and so I carried out my usual "test" on these peppercorns.

59f3a9918ccac_ScreenShot2017-10-27at2_36_03PM.png.6954592be2228b15e7f191793a2dbe54.png

It took me a few tries to get the grind just right for my taste (medium fine) I ground it into a shallow prep dish in segments so I could see the size. 

Then I moved it and mixed them together, doesn't matter, I ground the pepper directly on to the buttered saltines.

59f3a98923fa6_ScreenShot2017-10-27at2_36_15PM.png.d16989b607bd66989ac1f6bb27dfeaa6.png

The flavor is very assertive and it has similar notes to the Wynad pepper, which I have been using heavily for the past year.

 

I think it will be very good on fruits, besides all the usual applications.  

 

59f3a99bc7f85_ScreenShot2017-10-27at2_35_48PM.png.243a624c16da288e21741602e23497ea.png

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yes!  I posted the link when I said I had placed the order.

 

I had gotten Madagascar Pepper from Pepper Passion  (now Sir Spice) a couple of years ago but I used it up.   They were sold out when I checked so I went to my "alternatives"  and noted one of the blogs I follow had recommended this place.

 

Here's my collection of peppers from early 2015

 

59f3b9e09b050_PEPPERCORNCOLLECTION..png.77a945cd23c5d421ef69cd3d437a7c25.png

Edited by andiesenji (log)
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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
On ‎10‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 7:54 PM, andiesenji said:

I just ordered some from Old Stone Market - it popped up in an online search and I realized that I had seen the site previously when it was recommended on a blog I follow.

The blog writer recommended the saffron.  

So I ordered a jar of the Madagascar black peppercorns, a tin of the saffron, and a jar of the lavender flowers because I have not been happy with the ones from the health food store.  Theirs used to be excellent, great flavor but the last batch I got was musty and very little flavor I took the bag back and was told they were "out of stock" so I got a refund.  I'm pretty sure there were other complaints.

Anyway, I am anxious to see how the Madagascar black pepper stacks up against my current favorite, Wynad pepper which is pricey but the flavor is extraordinary, especially on fruits, in fruit salads.  It is one of the few peppercorns that are ripened before picking.  

 

I think we may be discussing two different spices/species.  I looked at the Black Pepper From Madagascar picture on the Old Stone Market site:

http://oldstonemarket.com/images/view.aspx?productId=3

 

To my eye this appears quite unlike my voatsiperifery:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Piper_borbonense_(Wild_Voatsiperifery_Pepper)_Fianarantsoa_Madagascar.jpg

 

(Piper borbonense, picture from Wikipedia.)

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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boilsover

boilsover

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Yes!  I posted the link when I said I had placed the order.

 

I had gotten Madagascar Pepper from Pepper Passion  (now Sir Spice) a couple of years ago but I used it up.   They were sold out when I checked so I went to my "alternatives"  and noted one of the blogs I follow had recommended this place.

 

Here's my collection of peppers from early 2015

 

59f3b9e09b050_PEPPERCORNCOLLECTION..png.77a945cd23c5d421ef69cd3d437a7c25.png

 

The Passion packets look identical to the G. Detou packets.  I paid 9 Euro per 125g packet.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

The Madagascar Black Pepper I have purchased in the past is hand-picked ripe berries, not the  Piper borbonense.

The product I just received is just like the product I have purchased before.

 

 

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Pan

Pan

Posted
Posted

Yes, I would plan to do so.  Lots of details remain to be worked out, but I think that may end up being one of the less difficult ones. Why do so many sites not ship to Canada?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
On 28/10/2017 at 11:48 AM, Pan said:

Yes, I would plan to do so.  Lots of details remain to be worked out, but I think that may end up being one of the less difficult ones. Why do so many sites not ship to Canada?

Very large country, relatively small population. It adds a lot of km for a modest payback. 

 

My daughter runs into this all the time, ordering big-girl clothing (when your bra size gets into the second half of the alphabet, you can't just get 'em at Walmart). 

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

What Chromedome said.  Plus, import taxes are another reason a lot of places can't be bothered.  I find ordering directly from the States very expensive relative to charges within Canada or what is charged for shipping within the U.S.  Whenever I run into this, I always wonder if there is also a mark up on shipping costs.  So far, i get around this by having stuff shipped to my niece in N.Y. and I fret about what I'll do when they move back to Canada in a few years.

As an aside, for the first time ever when crossing into the US recently, the border person asked if we were picking up anything at a post office/courier box.  I wonder if delivery to these are becoming more popular?  

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, ElsieD said:

What Chromedome said.  Plus, import taxes are another reason a lot of places can't be bothered.  I find ordering directly from the States very expensive relative to charges within Canada or what is charged for shipping within the U.S.  Whenever I run into this, I always wonder if there is also a mark up on shipping costs.  So far, i get around this by having stuff shipped to my niece in N.Y. and I fret about what I'll do when they move back to Canada in a few years.

As an aside, for the first time ever when crossing into the US recently, the border person asked if we were picking up anything at a post office/courier box.  I wonder if delivery to these are becoming more popular?  

I used to have a friend who lived in Niagara, she was disabled and was a weaver who often crossed into the U.S. and the border people knew her very well and waved her through. She had a lot of friends and would pick up things for them shipped to a UPS facility, then ship them from home to her friends.  Everything was marked GIFT just in case when she was crossing the border but she was never stopped.  In return, she was the recipient of prepaid gas cards, gift cards for her favorite retailers and one year several of us got together and gave her a cruise to Alaska, which had been on her "bucket list" for a very long time.  She has been sorely missed. I still have several of her weavings.

 

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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JohnT

JohnT

Posted
Posted
On 31 October 2017 at 7:07 AM, Cronker said:

I hear that there has been an outbreak of the Black Plague in Madagascar. Not good if true.

This is an annual event in many sub-Sahara countries every spring. It is just that the news media has picked up the Malagasy outbreak this year. It occurs mainly in the slum areas of the main cities and does not affect the outlying countryside and towns. Outbreaks this year have also been reported in Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola and into the DRC.

 

As I say, an annual event with a few hundred people dying each year throughout the region. This may sound bad or my comment trivial, but this is Africa and nobody actually cares very much. Thousands more die each year in tribal fighting and dictators silencing their oppositions. Sad, but true! I am supprised they have not published the South African count this year. It must also be remembered that even the US has around a dozen reported cases each year - all kept relatively quiet by the applicable authorities.

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Some time ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

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  • 6 years later...
ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

I bought something from HammerSchlemmer last year that had to be returned.  It took them 2 months to issue a refund and that was after repeated follow-ups.  I've crossed them off my shopping list.

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lemniscate

lemniscate

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I bought something from HammerSchlemmer last year that had to be returned.  It took them 2 months to issue a refund and that was after repeated follow-ups.  I've crossed them off my shopping list.

Ooh, that's a shame.   I'll update if I have a positive or a negative experience with this order.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

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lemniscate

lemniscate

Posted
Posted
On 1/7/2024 at 6:38 PM, lemniscate said:

Ooh, that's a shame.   I'll update if I have a positive or a negative experience with this order.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

I received my order today.  Everything was packed well and in undamaged condition.  My experience with this HS order is very positive.  But I don't need to do a return or refund, so there's that.

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