Known in Thai as ‘Chaplu’ this is another member of the Piper genus, and a relative of Black pepper พริกไทย and Long Pepper ดีปลี. It is a more delicate plant, yet vigorous that tend to crawl and spread fast, rather than climb like a vine.

Other names

  • Piper sarmentosum (Scientific)
  • lá lốt (in Vietnamese)
  • Betel leaves
  • Wild betel

Culinary use

The part most commonly eaten is the leaves, although the flowers and fruit are also edible. The leaves are elastic and not as succulent as the leaves of black pepper and are mostly used as wrappers in ‘Miang’ เมี่ยง wraps. The raw leaves have a distinct flavor and aroma with some (black) pepper hints. Other uses of the leaves are in salads and curry dishes that simply use the leaf as a vegetable.

The darker greens in the curry are Chaplu leaves.
The Vietnamese application

Additional resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_sarmentosum

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