I recently bought a pepper sampler in order to try some of the exotic and different peppers that grow around the globe. Opening the box I found five four-ounce bags and a gift – two long narrow plastic tubes filled with peppercorns. The sampler includes a Vietnamese Gourmet Pepper, Tellicherry from India, Talamanca Del Caribe from Ecuador, Lampong from Indonesia, and Malabar from India. The first free gift was the Hawaiian Rainbow pepper pack containing Tellicherry black, Mutok white, and French Rose while the second one called Ebony & Ivory merely states Black & White peppercorns.

Peppercorns stay fresh for years, while ground pepper starts to lose flavor between three hours to four months after it is ground, depending on which authority you are reading! My sampler cost $25 and was ordered online from Bruce Morgan at www.pepper-passion.com up in the state of Washington. From order to delivery it only took six days, and now on to try our new and exotic peppers!