Page 254 - The Guide To Sarawak

252 AGRICULTURE
SARAWAK SPICES
Many spices are grown or collected wild from the rainforest. The most popular commercial spices are chillies of various strengths, culminating in the eye- watering chilli padi, varieties of ginger, lemongrass and lengkuas (galangal). None are unique to Sarawak,
although some wild ginger species are endemic. Sarawak’s most famous spice is pepper, introduced from India in the mid-19th Century. Sarawak is the world’s fifth largest producer and exports an average
of 50 million pounds (22,000 tonnes) annually.
It is primarily a smallholder crop, providing reliable and dependable cash income
for more than 60,000 rural families. Many Sarawak graduates claim their college fees were paid from their families’ pepper gardens.
The Malaysian Pepper Board, based in Kuching,
is active in promoting
and upgrading pepper, developing new and sustainable products such
as organic pepper, and providing facilities such as steam-sterilizing plants. Sarawak Pepper is protected under Geographical Indication (GI) and is well-
Table salt produced from the salt springs of Pa Umor in the Kelabit Highlands. It is wrapped in a pandanus leaf for storage.
known internationally for its quality and depth of flavour. Visitors to rural Sarawak can visit a pepper garden to learn more about this unique spice.
Sarawak also provides high-quality table salt. Lubang Garam Pa Umor
in the Bario Highlands is
the best-known traditional salt spring, where local Kelabit people boil the spring’s brine to extract the salt, then roast it in hollow bamboo tubes until dry.
The resulting Bario salt is wrapped in pandanus leaves for distribution and sale.
Pepper (Piper nigrum), Sarawak’s most important spice crop. The same plant produces both black and white pepper, as well as red and green peppercorns.
A pepper farm in the Sarawak countryside. Literally tens of thousands of rural families derive their main cash income from this valuable crop.