Baffia Black Peppercorns
- Allergens Absent, except for cross-contamination. May contain traces of sesame, celery, mustard, soy.
- Origin Ivory Coast
- Storage / Use In a cool, dark, dry place.
The words of Mathilde Rœllinger
High-grade and pungent black pepper from Ivory Coast with woody and Juniper flavor notes.
Story
These black peppercorns hail from a 5-hectare (12-acre) family farm in the southern region of the Ivory Coast, where cacao beans and oil palm trees also grow. Baffia is a small village hidden in this Sud Comoé region.
Baffia means ‘those who know how to hide’ because the village was founded by Anyi warriors who were masters of camouflage techniques.
This pepper is grown by an entrepreneur who inherited his parents’ land. This land came with one requirement: cultivate it! Realizing that peppercorns were being produced in Burkina Faso and Cameroun, he decided to try growing them on his land. He wanted to innovate alongside the traditional crops of coffee and cocoa. He even found a wild pepper plant on the plantation which he took to be an auspicious sign. Black pepper was introduced to Ivory Coast during the colonial period, alongside coffee and cocoa, but it had never been cultivated on a significant scale.
The pepper plants are grown without any treatment whatsoever. The peppercorn clusters reach full maturity in January, when they are harvested by hand. The peppercorns are then separated from the cluster, blanched in boiling water, and dried in the sun. Everything is done by hand with the utmost care.
