Rémi Locart and Kampot pepper on the market

Rémi Locart has been presenting its products since January.

Since last January on the local market, Rémi Locart has been presenting his Kampot peppers for sale. More precisely, he is the official importer and distributor of the spice production of La Plantation, the largest pepper plantation in Kampot, a pepper town in Cambodia which gave its name to the first PGI pepper in the world, certified in 2010.

The Franco-Belgian couple who created La Plantation aim for extra quality by only producing grade A pepper, eco-certified pepper. "The calibration is done by hand, anything that is not beautiful is removed with tweezers", specifies Rémi.

Gold medal spices

Stranded in Cambodia at the start of Covid in 2020, he stayed there for a year and a half. "I met the bosses of the plantation. I liked their ethical commitment to organic farming and fair trade production of the best spices from Cambodia. When I returned to France, I opened an import-export company."Among the spices that he offers on Thursdays and Saturdays at the corner of the town hall, some are gold medalists at the international fine spices fair which is held every year in Paris: green pepper sauce, the duo of long sweet green peppers and the turmeric flower. Special mention for the fresh salt pepper.

"In Kampot, they also have salt marshes. They invented a recipe for fresh pepper preserved in salt. This allows you to taste the pepper as if it had just been harvested green, it is tender, not very spicy and has a long lasting taste."

Amateurs are fond of it. The merchant is inexhaustible about his products: “Be careful, the only real pepper is the one that grows on the Piper nigrum vine which can reach four meters high. It is an equatorial plant that does not grow everywhere and requires a specific hydrometry rate and temperature. And Kampot pepper is expensive because with its IGP label, it is only produced on an area of ​​20 km in circumference."

Harvest from March to May

Harvest begins in March and ends in May. It is first harvested green to obtain black pepper after drying in the sun and oxidation. Then the red pepper is harvested when fully ripe and is fruitier (ideal for fresh fruit and chocolate), and finally the white pepper which is a red pepper put through a machine to remove the pericarp and leave only the core which gives flavors totally different.

"The Frontignan clientele is knowledgeable. They already have the name Kampot pepper in mind, either because of their taste for gastronomy or because they have already been to Cambodia." Rémi Locart also offers its products online to restaurateurs and to delicatessen stores.

Contacts: pepperdekampot.sumupstore.com or 07 68 07 26 50.

Free Midi Correspondent: 06 78 75 48 78

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