After reading this article a few years ago I mail ordered some Long Pepper to try at home. I love black pepper's flavor and am always looking for better kinds of pepper; the idea there's a related spice that's "better" was exciting to me.
No such luck. The flavor was nice but definitely milder than high quality black peppercorns. And not appreciably different. I mean maybe I got unlucky and got a stale batch or something, but I wasn't impressed. An added drawback is long pepper has a lot more plant material; the interior of each pepper is pretty fibrous and flavorless. Works OK with a spice grinder but not great. I ended up not using very much of it before turning most of it into extract. Eventually I threw it out.
No such luck. The flavor was nice but definitely milder than high quality black peppercorns. And not appreciably different. I mean maybe I got unlucky and got a stale batch or something, but I wasn't impressed. An added drawback is long pepper has a lot more plant material; the interior of each pepper is pretty fibrous and flavorless. Works OK with a spice grinder but not great. I ended up not using very much of it before turning most of it into extract. Eventually I threw it out.
If that doesn't dissuade you, you can order more long pepper than you're likely to use for about $11 from an online store in Chicago: https://www.thespicehouse.com/products/long-pepper