Peppers and Chillies from all around the world – some of which are really not well known at all in the West today like Grains of Paradise, Long Pepper or Java Pepper but all of which were well known to our ancestors. They fell out of fashion when new horizons dawned with the age of Empire and we discovered (or in some cases re-discovered) more varied and different spices.

The Romans knew about the Black Pepper we use today as well as Java Pepper and Grains of Paradise but in Elizabethan England they knew nothing of the Black Pepper we use today. That secret had been lost. They would have used Grains of Paradise although they may well have known it better as Guinea or Alligator Pepper.

These Chillies and Peppers, in particular, are now making a long deserved comeback to the more adventurous Western cuisine we are now beginning to experience.

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