Red Dak Lak Pepper

The pepper plant comes from the piper nigrum family. It originally came from India and was first planted in Vietnam in the 17th century by the French. It is was grown mainly in Phu Quoc, Hon Chong and Ha Tien during the 19th century, and then spread to the central regions and the South-East of Nam Bo at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays, pepper is grown throughout Vietnam, namely in Dak Lak, a province of Vietnam, on highlands with altitudes of up to 600m and five other provinces Binh Phuoc, Dak Nông, Bà Ria-Vung Tàu, Dông Naï, and Gia Lai. All the different stages of Dak Lak red pepper cultivation are done by hand, from harvesting to sizing, drying and sorting. The pepper is harvested when the berry turns red and is fully ripe. Then comes a careful and tough sorting process where the berries are separated from the drupes and each berry that doesn’t match the quality control is rejected. The pepper is dried in the sun and keeps its pericarp.