Kampot Pepper: The Ingredient Cambodia No Longer Has to Explain

Few Cambodian ingredients earn this kind of consensus. Kampot peppercorns, picked green and still on the vine, need no introduction abroad — and no apology at home.

Scallops served in the shell, at Malis restaurant, with green Kampot pepper still on the cluster

A Rare Agreement

Few products anywhere draw this kind of agreement: that Cambodia does one better than anyone else. Kampot pepper is one of them. It has held Cambodia's first-ever geographical indication since 2010, and EU protection since 2016, which reserves the name for pepper grown only in Kampot and Kep provinces. According to the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), which certifies production, more than 450 families now farm the pepper across roughly 250 hectares, up from around 100 families on 10 hectares when the association was founded. "I expect that Kampot pepper will remain famous," says Nguon Lay, who has led the KPPA since its early years.

Green, Not Yet Pepper

Fresh, still green and picked on the cluster, it bears little resemblance to the pepper most people know. The grain is bright and floral, almost crisp — a world away from the dry heat of dried black pepper. It belongs as much to the kitchen as to the spice rack: used whole, crushed at the last moment, to hold onto an aroma that fades the moment it dries.

On the Plate: Malis' Scallops

That freshness is what the kitchen at Malis is after. Founded in Phnom Penh in 2004 by chef Luu Meng around the idea of living Khmer cuisine — traditional recipes reworked rather than frozen in place — the restaurant pairs green Kampot pepper with equally delicate ingredients: scallops, seared in the shell, where the grain adds fragrance without ever covering the shellfish.

That direction today also carries the signature of Sao Sopheak, Executive Chef of Thalias Hospitality, who oversees the kitchens at Malis in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. A self-taught cook who built his reputation at Villa 5 in Phnom Penh before joining the group, he won gold at the first Private Chef World Cup in Paris in September 2025, against competitors from sixty-two countries. "It's not fusion. It's traditional Khmer cuisine, presented in a modern way," he says. Kampot pepper no longer needs an introduction abroad; on Cambodian tables, it never needed an apology.