Food Alphabet
Cubeb pepper (Javanese pepper, Cumulus, Rina)
Kubeba pepper (Javanese pepper, kumukus, rinu) is one of the most famous classic spices, its homeland is considered to be Indonesia and, above all, the island of Java. Europe got acquainted with Cubeba in the XIII century thanks to the Venetian merchants. Then, for centuries, kubeba was a marketable commodity. In the 19th century, British officers living in Java learned that the locals use this plant to treat various inflammations of the urinary tract, and soon kubeba also entered the European pharmaceutical industry, after which it became particularly popular.
In Russian cuisine in the XVI—XVII centuries, kubeba was often used as a spice for fish dishes. Now it is rarely used, and both in Russian and in Western European cuisine. What is the reason for this? Probably due to the fact that this pepper is the most fragrant of all existing species (it has a smell reminiscent of camphor). As before, it is loved only by people living in warm climates - here it is added to dishes as a spice along with black pepper.
Since kubeba is very hot, its dosage is a quarter of the usual proportion of black pepper (see the article "Black Pepper").
In cooking, kubeba is used most often in vegetable dishes. It also goes well with seafood and snails.
