.
I first encountered cubeb berries (pronounced kyoo-beb) at the Genius Gin Distillery in Austin. Our gin tour-and-tasting included a bit of a show-and-tell with various gin botanicals. My little group and I were quite impressed with ourselves as we readily recognized juniper berries, coriander seed, angelica root, cardamom, lime leaf, and lavender. And then there was this little bowl of what can only be described as “pepper with a tiny tail.” No one recognized it as cubeb berry.
As it turns out, our cutesy description made perfect sense, as cubeb berry (or cubeb pepper) is often called “Tailed Pepper” or “Java Pepper.” Cubeb berries are produced from the unripened fruit of the Piper cubeba plant, a tropical climbing vine grown in Indonesia (primarily Java and Sumatra). The unripe fruit is left to dry, with the resulting product (cubebs) resembling a wrinkled black peppercorn with a cute little tail.
Piper cubeba, from Köhler’s Medicinal Plants (1887—public domain)
Throughout history, the highly aromatic cubeb berries have been put to many uses, including perfume, medicine, and even cigarettes. Marshall’s Prepared Cubeb Cigarettes—which must have been something akin to clove cigarettes—was a popular American brand (back in the day).
Cubeb berries are also used in the culinary arts, and are described as aromatic, camphorous, slightly bitter, peppery (of course), and reminiscent of clove, nutmeg, and allspice. They are often used in spice mixtures (primarily in Southeast Asia) and curries, and also pair well with roast meat, sausages, and charcuterie.
These days, the cubeb berry is becoming well-known for its use in gin. When distilled, the resulting flavor is often described as spicy-peppery-piquant (as would be expected). A gentler process (compounding or maceration) is equally likely to reveal monoterpene-based floral notes such as rose or lavender as well as a warm, earthy character.
.
As most gin lovers know, in addition to the ubiquitous juniper berry, coriander seed and angelica root are the most widely-used gin botanicals. Cubeb berries might not even make the top ten list; but if you are a fan of Hendrick’s Gin, Bobby’s Schiedam Dry Gin, Poetic License Gin, Blue Bottle Gin, Genius Gin, Valone Premium Pacific Gin, East London Dry Gin, or Bombay Sapphire…it’s in your gin.
References: for more information:
Post authored by Jane A. Nickles…your blog administrator