About BoTree
The BoTree Farm
Bo Tree Farm is a family owned, 100% organic farm, on the south coast of Cambodia in the province of Kampot.
The primary crop on Bo Tree Farm is organic pepper, though we also grow a variety of fruit including mango, jackfruit, mangosteen, durian, coconut palms and rambutan. We also grow turmeric and ginger, the former being a notable health food that, when taken together with pepper, becomes even more valuable to the human body.
Bo Tree Farm is wholly owned by a Scottish-Cambodian family. We currently employ over 20 workers – many of whom are family members on the Khmer side, who receive free lodging and food as well as higher than average salaries for the sector.
Most of the workers on the farm are family members, though seasonally we employ people from the whole local community to assist at times of high activity – plucking the flowers from newly planted pepper vines and, or course, during the pepper harvest that normally takes place between March and May.
Kampot is renowned for the very high quality of its pepper where the best soil, climate and hydrology conditions converge to provide an ideal growing environment.
As a result, Kampot Pepper is the only pepper in the world to have attained Protected Geographic Indication (PGI), similar to Champagne, Cognac, Parma Ham or Stilton Cheese.
The PGI status was ratified by the European Union on 18 February 2016.
Pepper requires constant watering and fertilising during the long dry months from November until May and, with a changing climate, often during the traditionally wet months of June to October too.
The watering is all done by hand, enabling the workers to individually assess the health of the “tree” as they progress through the planation. Organic fertilisers are added as needed via a hole in the soil close to the root system.
Periodically, fresh topsoil is also added around the plants.
Irrigation water on Bo Tree Farm comes from ponds built to collect water during the rainy season. When they run dry, typically in late February or early March, we resort to ground water from 6 wells drilled around the farm. To date this supply has been sufficient however, in emergency, water can be trucked from a man-made lake, known as the Secret Lake, a few kilometres away.
Fertilisers are all 100% organic and produced on our farm using cow dung, bat guano, rice paddy crabs and fish heads mixed with grasses, leaves and other humus. Pesticides are made by traditional means using the leaves of locally growing trees that have an insect repelling quality. Much of knowledge required has been passed down from generation to generation. Lemongrass planted between the pepper blocks also helps to deter some predators.
The Pepper
Kampot pepper is grown in a small mountainous area of southern Cambodia, straddling the provinces of Kampot and Kep. In this region, the “terroir” – the unique combination of climate, soil hydrology and know how – is ideal for producing one of the finest peppers in the world, delivering distinct, lingering flavours and aromas unlike any other.
Pepper growing in Kampot has a history pre-dating even the ancient civilisations of the Angkor Empire. Production reached its zenith during the French colonial era in the early to mid 20th century when up to 8,000 tonnes per year were produced and exported to France. However, during the Khmer Rouge period of control during the 1970s, the industry was all but terminated when farmers were forced to grow rice, and the pepper plantations were abandoned to the forest.
As peace returned to Cambodia in the early 1990s, pepper farming families started trickling back to their ancestral lands to begin rebuilding their ancient craft, assisted by development organisations.
Nowadays, the exceptional quality of Kampot pepper is once again being discovered by the world of haute cuisine, and demand amongst the top restaurants of Europe and the rest of the Western World, Japan and Korea is helping to lift Kampot’s traditional pepper farmers out of poverty. Meanwhile, Kampot pepper has now become the first pepper in the world to be awarded Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) by the European Union, a certification that recognises products of exceptional quality that can only be produced in a designated region.
Kampot Pepper’s PGI Book of Specification requires that, for pepper to be called Kampot Pepper, it must be grown 100% organically, prohibiting the use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides, and must be produced from one of only two piper nigram sub species, Kamchay and Lampong (or Belantoeung), known locally as big leaf or small leaf pepper.
Where does pepper come from?
Originating in India, pepper (Piper nigrum L) is a vine that climbs up trees or poles planted in the ground reaching up to 10m tall. There are 2 types of pepper grown in Kampot – and on our farm – which qualify for the PGI status: Kamchay and Lampong, known locally as big leaf or small leaf pepper. The corns grow on a string, known as a “spike”, that grows up to around 10cm long, each producing up to 50 to 60 peppercorns per spike. As with most fruits, the corns turn red when ripe.
Black pepper is derived from the about to ripen, green berries, dried in the sun. The red pepper is produced from the red, ripe berries, and the white pepper is made from red peppercorns with the skins removed. Red and white corns are hard to produce and make up a small percentage of the pepper crop. Birds enjoy the taste of the ripe berries and are likely to get to them before we do, therefore we harvest the spikes when only the first half dozen or so berries have turned red.
Kampot Pepper Types
Kampot pepper is available in four different types, from the freshly picked green pepper that can only be found locally in Kampot, to the three dried types that each have their own distinct flavours and characteristics.
Green Kampot Pepper
The fresh, undried green peppercorns are only available during harvest season between April and May and are typically fried fresh with meat or seafood. Once picked from the plant, fresh pepper does not travel well or keep for long, but its life can be extended by pickling or being preserved in salt.
Black Kampot Pepper
Intensely spicy with complex flavours, black Kampot pepper is the world renowned taste that has traversed generations since the height of popularity under French colonial rule. Strong, substantial pepper with flavours unlike any other pepper in the world. The black pepper is made by harvesting the berries when they are fully developed but still green in colour, then dried in the sun.
Red Kampot Pepper
When the pepper berries are left to mature on the vine they turn from green to red. These are harvested and hand sorted to pick out the best of the best. The red peppercorns offer a sweeter, fruity flavour of pepper that can be used in all sorts of unexpected ways, suchs as in fruit salads, on ice cream, chocolate or strawberries. It is also perfect for more gamey red meats such as lamb or venison.
White Kampot Pepper
Certified by International Organisations
All of our genuine Kampot Pepper is certified by a number of official bodies, governments and organisations around the world. Our farm is regularly inspected to ensure we meet the highest criteria for quality Kampot Pepper production.
Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA)
The KPPA is the organisation that regulates, controls and certifies Kampot Pepper production.
Cambodian Government Global Indication
Kampot Pepper was first awarded protected geographical indication, a status recognizing the product as unique and special, by the Cambodian Government in 2010.
European Union Geographical Indication
Kampot Pepper is GI certified by the EU, the same body that certifies Champagne and other geographic-specific products in Europe and worldwide.
Guild of Fine Food
The Guild of Fine Food has a mission to support, celebrate and encourage independent food and drink retailers and the producers that supply them.
COrAA
The Cambodian Organic Agriculture Association test and certify the land where BoTree farm lies. We have our organic certification covering the 2016/2017 harvest.
The Harvest & Sorting Process
We harvest, dry, sort and process our Kampot Pepper between the months of March and May.
Pepper is picked and harvested just before the rainy season begins. If left for longer periods of time, pepper does not enjoy too much water and it can destroy the harvest. Fresh green pepper can only be best appreciated in Cambodia itself – ideally right at the farm, but you can take home the flavour of the dried pepper.
All our pepper is sun dried in the manner that is very natural. It is laid out in direct sunlight for three to four days on bamboo mats. Within this time it needs to be moved and be turned around after several hours to ensure it is drying evenly for the final product to be perfect.
It is also sorted to remove bits of leaves as the pepper dries and sticks to the mat. Any broken, immature or undersized peppercorns can also be sorted for using in lower grade pepper. You will find that our Kampot peppercorns are significantly bigger than the generic branded peppercorns you generally find in the supermarket. That is made possible by ensuring that the cut is made by only the finest peppercorns into our superior pepper products.
The pepper is given a final sorting by hand once it is properly dry. Each peppercorn has to go through a final quality test before being added to the final output. These controls follow the conventional systems where the emphasis is on the quality of the pepper and not the amount created. Our production line is small, with one person filling the bags and then passes it along to the next person can recheck the amount and make any changes. The packages have to be properly filled to the right amount because over-filling may mean that the packages don’t even fit into the carton.
We then go over to the vacuum packaging machines where the vacuum-packed bags are prepared. Then the bags are tightly vacuum packed. This is where the merchandise is put into thick plastic bags and connected to a machine which sucks the air out from the bag and seals the pepper from the environment and thus you can be sure of its high quality hygiene which lasts for years to come.
