Cubeb is a small plant in the pepper family that is indigenous to
Indonesia. Although the “berries” do resemble peppercorns, they are more
like a cross between
allspice and
nutmeg in flavor. Cubeb berries are,
however, used in Moroccan, Indian and African cuisines as
black pepper
is in the west to season a wide variety of foods.
This little fruit has a long and interesting history of use. The spice
was used to flavor meats and sauces in Medieval Europe and to flavor
lozenges and cigarettes in the early 1900s. It is still an ingredient in
Russian pepper vodka and Bombay Sapphire gin.
In Tibet, where it is known as ka-ko-la, cubeb is featured along with
cardamom,
nutmeg and
cloves, as one of the six supreme ingredients that
make up the formula bZang-po dRug. Cubeb, taking its place as the sixth
ingredient, is intended to target the spleen.
Cubeb has several literary mentions. It was an ingredient in a special
spice mixture intended to assist a merchant and his wife to conceive a
child in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. Cubeb cigarettes are
mentioned in song in one scene of the award-winning musical The Music
Man and, according to American author Edgar Rice Burroughs, the
existence of Tarzan is owing to his penchant for cubeb-flavored
cigarettes.
