Melegueta Chile Pepper

A type of pepper, native to tropical areas of West Africa. Mildly flavored, this pepper grows in a range of 1 to 2 inches in length and contains seeds with a spicy, hot taste that is slightly bitter, providing flavored overtones of cardamom and ginger. Beneath the grey brown wrinkled pepper skin, the wrinkled round seeds look like small cardamom seeds. The seeds are commonly known as "Grains of Paradise, and are most often used as a flavoring in food dishes such as ras el hanout or used as a flavoring for akavit. The seeds are also chewed as a peppery tasting mouth freshener.