A close relative of black pepper, the cubeb pepper berry is the dried, unripe fruit of the Piper cubeba plant, which is native to Java and other Indonesian islands. It is sometimes known as tailed pepper due to the berry’s pericarp tapering off into a distinctive stubby tail. Upon being harvested, the berries are sun-dried until they take on their characteristic dark, raisin-like appearance.
While it is a member of the pepper family, the cubeb pepper berry is actually a drupe, not a peppercorn. Despite this, it is still used like whole peppercorns as a seasoning in Moroccan, North African, Indonesian and Asian cuisines.
Often described as a cross between allspice and pepper, cubeb pepper berries have a rich, distinctive taste that is well-suited to exotic Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine. They also boast a vast array of rare functional molecules that are not found in most other foods or spices. It should come as no surprise then that cubeb pepper berries have a long history of use as an herbal remedy in both Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
