Kebab Chini

Better known to Westerners as cubeb pepper, and also called tailed pepper and Java pepper, this is the real thing. It can be a bit uncertain what you're going to get when ordering from the Internet, and ordering something that has inconsistent names in many cultures. The supply I got from Big Indian Store was the right species (Piper cubeba), properly and fully dry, but not stale or musty, and not pre-ground. It's fresh and just right, and keeps well in a sealed container. These peppercorns work fine in any pepper grinder (even a cheap one; that's true of most pepper, with the exception of long pepper, which is best dealt with in a nutmeg mill because it is dense, woody, and large). I order cheap pepper grinders with different-colored tops for all my weird peppers – kubeb, green, white, Sichuan, etc. – voatsiperifery is next!If you're not used to cubeb pepper / kebab-chini, it is pretty much nothing like black pepper (it's not "hot", just very different), and is not used as an alternative to black pepper. It's very resinous and aromatic, toward the piney side due to camphor content, though also sort of sweet, with hints of allspice. These pepper berries contain over a dozen interesting alkaloids and other compounds (mostly terpenes), according to the Wikipedia article. It takes very little kebab chini to provide a pungent accent to a dish, so a small supply of it will probably last you a long time. It is probably best used following a specific ethnic recipe (and various ones from Africa through the Middle East to India and Southeast Asia may call for it, generally as part of a complex spice mixture).However, my personal favorite use for it is as a last-moment addition, in a pretty small quantity, to any kind of Asian-fusion dish. One of my go-to treats is udon or soba noodles, with Trader Joe's Thai shrimp pot stickers and chicken cilantro mini-wontons, more garlic than is probably necessary, and some ginger (or a ginger-heavy sauce, like Soy Vey), plus some of those Aidell's pineapple teriyaki chicken meatballs, and whatever vegetables seem good to add at the moment, plus a teaspoon of ground chiles (I'm partial to the sambal oelek or chili-garlic sauce from Huy Fong, the original Sriracha sauce company). Cook the mix in just enough water and sauce to soften the noodles and pot stickers, let it cool a bit, and do a couple of quick grinds of this kebab chini pepper on top. It rawks, as a thick noodle-gyoza soup. The cubeb pepper should be added last, as the essential oils in it are volatile, and you'll simply cook off most of the flavor very quickly if you add it early. (By contrast, the tongue-numbing effect of Sichuan pepper will last, and the actual flavor profile of it seems better if added early and allowed to mingle with the rest of the dish, though it needs to be ground very fine.) Cubeb pepper can be ground fine or coarse, and it won't matter all that much, but start out with fine until you get used to it. It's stronger than you think. I also sometimes add it to Ethiopian/Eritrean takeout, if what I got wasn't as much of a flavor explosion as I expected.Anyway, I'm entirely happy with Big Indian Store's supply of kebab chini. My first-ever supply of this kind of pepper was bought in-store at a spice shop, and since then I have not been able to get any online that was satisfactory – until Big Indian Store. So, five stars! I was actually missing it very badly, having run out a while back, so I'm happy to have found this vendor.

The product was stale. Not using it

seasoning /good

Fast shipper, accurate product.