THE HISTORY BEHIND STARLING FARM

Starling Farm is a Cambodian family-owned plantation located in the heart of the world’s premier pepper growing region, Kampot Province, of Cambodia. In 2002, Ms. Anna Him began to clear the land that would become Starling Farm.

We started with nothing. The Khmer Rouge just wanted to grow rice, explains the businesswoman. They destroyed all the pepper plants. We found some wild plants and we got a few from farmers in the area and replanted them.

STARLING FARM’S COMMITMENT

Now over fifty people work at Starling Farm in various capacities from pepper specialists, farm labour, pepper sorting and advanced production techniques, and not forgetting the office and shop in Phnom Penh where they handle and package all international orders. The working conditions offered to employees respect the principles of fair trade.

Concerned by the deforestation problems of Cambodia, Starling Farm has put new techniques in place – building solid brick columns for the pepper vines to grow around instead of the traditional wooden poles. While the wood poles must be replaced every few years, the bricks will last for ten or twenty years easily, significantly increasing the benefits of the technique. It’s also come up that it allows them to double the amount of pepper Starling Farm could grow per square meter when compared to traditional wooden poles, where they would have two or three plants around a wooden pole, they could have up to eight around a brick column.

STARLING FARM’S PREMIUM GRADE PEPPER

Starling Farm is a member of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), with the status of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), guaranteeing a product of the highest quality. Starling Farm Kampot Pepper is ECOCERT certified. Plus, all Starling Farm peppers are totally organic and grown using traditional methods dating back more than 1,000 years. Starling Farm pepper is sun-dried for several days before being sorted with tweezers, sterilized and vacuum-packed to get you as fresh as it left the plantation.

Kampot Pepper is the world’s most popular pepper. The citrus aromas combine with a unique warmth to produce an incomparable sensation and taste.

An exceptional product!

Live the Starling Farm experience in minutes with the excerpt from Channel 4 UK’s Spice Trip program when they visited Starling Farm.

Originally aired on the UK national TV network on 9th December 2012.