Wild Pepper Leaf, (Wild Betel)

Also known as Wild Betel, Piper sarmentosum has many different common names throughout various parts of Southeast Asia:

Thai: cha phlu | ช้าพลู
Khmer: japloo | ចាព្លូ
Lao: pak i leut | ຜັກອີ່ເລີດ
Vietnamese: lá lốt
Malay: pokok kadok

Piper sarmentosum is a plant in the family Piperaceae used in many Southeast Asian cuisines. The leaves look very similar  to Piper betle (Betel Leaf) but they lack the intense taste and bitterness of betel leaves. It is cultivated specifically for its leaf which is used in everything from salads to flavouring wraps for barbecued meats; perhaps most famously: thịt bò nướng lá lốt in Vietnam - which is beef wrapped in the leaves and grilled to perfection, usually over charcoal. Delicious.

It grows well in frost free parts of NZ. Quiet to dormant over winter, it races away in spring and summer sending up loads of lovely, tasty new leaves. If you don't have this plant yet - you need it.  It's so good everyone should be growing it!