At the beginning, I didn't think I would become Miss Pure Pepper. It's just that I love traveling. Especially to Asia. I always enjoy discovering countries through the culinary specialties of the regions. Do you feel the same? I always have to try everything that is typical of the country I'm traveling in. And so in 2009, on my trip through Cambodia, I sat in one of the street kitchens and ordered the fish in pepper sauce. You could say that this dish changed my life.

This pepper flavor didn't just delight me, it blew me away. I had never tasted anything like it before. Fresh, green, lemony, hot and just very spicy. I've never tasted pepper like this before.

Of course, I also sell Cambodian pepper in my shop. And of course I'm also happy to share with you the original recipe for fish in pepper sauce, which I got from Cambodian farmers:
For four grilled fish you need:

• juice of 3 limes
• 1-2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons black peppercorns

For the Kampot pepper sauce, roughly chop the pepper. Mix all ingredients together. Done.
This simple, quick sauce goes well with any grilled fish, meat or as a marinade for raw fish.

Back in Germany, I started looking for exactly this taste. And you'll have guessed: I didn't find it. All the types of pepper that I tried here, whether premium or mass-produced, none of the peppers came close to this taste experience. So I decided to give myself this pepper pleasure. I'm sure other connoisseurs and pepper lovers felt the same way as I did. Why not finally bring this pepper to Germany? I started looking for suppliers and cooperation partners in Cambodia to find exactly this pepper. And I succeeded. I found a cooperative that offered fairly traded pepper in the quality I was looking for. This was how PURE PEPPER was born.

But my journey was far from over. After all, there are other fantastic and delicious types of pepper in the world. In India, for example. India quickly became my next destination. But the search here turned out to be more difficult than I thought. The quality that I encountered in the markets and that was offered to me was far from the quality that I demanded for myself. So I left India empty-handed. My decision was: no compromises!

I was back the very next year. I couldn't stop thinking about pepper. The taste was so exciting and convincing. I only wanted this kind of quality pepper for myself and my customers. No matter how, no matter where it came from. To get it, I traveled to the most remote villages and up the highest mountains - until I found the Indian pepper farm owned by two Indian biologists.

We became business partners and still are today. Indian pepper is one of the most popular types of pepper in the world and is of course also one of the most popular types in my shop.

After that, my further travels took me to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nepal. And everywhere I went, I was looking for that one reliable pepper farmer who grows high-quality pepper and carefully harvests it by hand.

By trading directly with small farmers in these countries, I ensure that they have full access to the profits, and the associated cooperatives provide the farmers with the necessary know-how and network to be able to participate in the global market. Most farmers do not know the rules for export and global trade. The cooperatives also offer support in these areas. At least the ones I choose. This is a very important criterion when selecting my partners: offering pepper farmers help to help themselves.

In all my business activities, it is important to me that all business partners are treated fairly and well. And so the way we deal with the world and people is an important factor for cooperation. But the most important thing is and remains the quality of the pepper. I make no compromises here. And that is exactly why I have decided to only offer pepper from the current harvest.

For this reason, I have been searching intensively for special glasses in which to sell the pepper. And I have found them! The dark blue glass keeps the pepper fresh for longer and ensures the best pepper enjoyment. Ultimately, I would like to enable you to experience the same delights that I was able to experience in the Cambodian street kitchen.