SC - Long pepper

[Philip & Susan Troy]

ysabeau wrote:

> I think I may have seen this long pepper in our comissary here
> (Baumholder, Germany). It looks like little green black pepper pods  in a
> grape type cluster. Are the pepper pods small round balls or are they
> supposed to be elongated? It is located with the other "hot" peppers  and I
> have been wondering what it was.

As I've said, I haven't seen long pepper except in illustrations, but
your description seems a possibility. I believe the peppercorns
themselves are round, smaller than black peppercorns, and arranged in a
long, tight cluster. Some illustrations show a diagonal cross-hatching
rather than individual berries, but that is presumably the same artistic
license used in drawing mail armor. Don't know about the color: yet
another drawback of not having actually seen the stuff.   

> My guess was fresh capers

Probably not capers. They grow individually on a bush, and are actually
flower buds related to the nasturtium, and not berries (as with
peppercorns) or the seeds of those berries (as with white peppercorns).
If they are green, and don't show themselves as tiny clusters of leaves,
then they are more likely some kind of berries or seeds. I suppose they
COULD be the green form of long pepper, just as black peppercorns come
in a green form, too. At this point, anything's possible.  

> but I
> didn't know if there was such a thing. I will check with the grocer
> next time I go and report back.

Please do!

Thanks!

adamantius