Young Green Peppercorns (Prik Thai On, เธเธฃเธดเธเนเธเธขเธญเนเธญเธ) are the original sourceย of heat and spice in Thai cuisine. The more well known bird chilis werenโt introduced to the Thaiย food lexicon until European visitors brought them from the New World.
And unlike bird chilisย that bring a biting heat, these stalks of fresh green peppercorns bring a gentle warmth andย almost fruity pop of pepper flavor to many dishes like Jungle Curry and Pad Cha just to nameย a few.
Recipes using peppercorns:
When peppercorns are green, they are soft, slightly crunchy and only mildly hot. If left toย mature on the vine, the berries turn red – and after some time spent drying in the sun, becomeย black peppercorns (something we know a lot about in the West).
The tough thing about findingย young green peppercorns outside Southeast Asia is that they are usually sold pickled in jarsย – or frozen, losing the vibrant green color and, more importantly, fresh spicy pop of the jungleย in the process.
If you are lucky enough to find stalks of young green peppercorns at an Asianย grocery near you, snap them up (all of them!) and prepare to be delighted by a texture and tasteย endemic to the ancient flavor of Thai cuisine, entrenched well before people started even caringย what year it was.
