The dried berry of a Javanese pepper vine, recognisable by its little stalk. Cubeb tastes of pine, allspice and camphor, and was a fixture of medieval European and North African cooking.
What it is¶
Cubeb is the dried fruit of Piper cubeba, a climbing vine of the same genus as black pepper, grown mainly in Indonesia. The berries look very like black peppercorns, slightly larger and less wrinkled, but each one keeps a short stalk a few millimetres long, which is why cubeb is also called tailed pepper. Like black pepper, the berries are picked unripe and dried.
It is sold mainly by specialist spice merchants, and in Indonesia, where it is known as kemukus.
Origins and history¶
Cubeb reached the Arab world and Europe through the Indian Ocean trade. It appears in Arabic medical and culinary writing from the medieval period and, by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in European recipes and apothecaries' lists alongside long pepper, grains of paradise and galingale (see galangal). It flavoured sauces, spiced wine and sweetmeats, and was valued as a medicine; see medieval spice cookery.
Its culinary use in Europe declined from the seventeenth century, as black pepper became cheaper and tastes changed. It lingered in pharmacy: in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries cubeb was used in remedies for catarrh and asthma, including cubeb cigarettes, which were sold for decades. In North Africa it never quite dropped out of the kitchen and still appears in some blends.
Flavour and aroma¶
Cubeb is less hot than black pepper, with a flavour usually described as a cross between black pepper and allspice, plus a resinous, pine-like note and a clear bitterness. There is a cooling, camphor-like edge on the finish. It is far more aromatic than it is pungent, and its bitterness means it is best used in modest amounts.
In the kitchen¶
- North Africa: cubeb is a traditional component of some ras el hanout blends in Morocco, and of Tunisian spice mixes for stews and sausages.
- Indonesia: used in curries and spice pastes, notably in Javanese and Sumatran gulai.
- Medieval-style cooking: in spiced wine, poached pears, gingerbread and game sauces.
- Gin and bitters: cubeb is a common gin botanical, contributing pine and spice notes.
- Everyday use: grind a few berries with black pepper for a more aromatic finishing pepper, or add to marinades for lamb and game.
💡 Grind with something else
Cubeb's bitterness is easier to use when it is part of a mix. Try 1 part cubeb to 3 parts black pepper in a mill; the small stalks grind without trouble.
As with most whole spices, a light toasting in a dry pan for a minute or so brings out the aroma; see toasting spices.
Buying and storing¶
Whole cubebs keep well for two or three years in an airtight jar away from light and heat. Buy from a specialist with good turnover; old cubeb loses its pine notes and is left mostly bitter. See storing spices.
Substitutes¶
- Allspice: the closest widely available substitute for cubeb's warm, rounded aroma.
- Black pepper with a crushed juniper berry approximates the pepper-and-pine combination.
- Long pepper or grains of paradise in medieval-style recipes.
Pairs well with¶
Lamb, game, pork, beans, root vegetables and pears; black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, juniper, bay leaf and citrus peel.
Telling cubeb from black pepper¶
Cubeb and black peppercorns are sometimes mixed, deliberately or by accident. Cubeb berries are a little larger, smoother and greyer, and nearly all of them carry the characteristic stalk; crush one and the smell of pine and camphor is unmistakable. A handful of stalked berries in a bag of black pepper is not necessarily fraud, but a bag labelled cubeb that is mostly stalkless, wrinkled peppercorns is not what you paid for.
📜 A medieval favourite
Recipes from fourteenth-century England and France call for cubeb in spiced sauces for fish and fowl and in sweet confections, often alongside grains of paradise, cinnamon and ginger. Cooks recreating these dishes today should use it with a light hand: the medieval taste for bitterness was greater than ours.