The Serumpun Codex · Aromatics and spices
Litsea
A small, peppery berry that smells of citrus and camphor.
The entry
- Name
- Litsea
- Other names
- Pahkak (Bidayuh); tenem (Kelabit, Lun Bawang); mountain pepper
- Scientific name
- Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers.
- What it is
- A small, peppery berry that smells of citrus and camphor.
- Knowledge from
- The Bidayuh of Kampung Kiding; the Kelabit of Pa' Lungan and Pa' Ukat; the Lun Bawang of Long Kerebangan, Long Telingan and Long Rasu.
- How it is used
- Berries eaten as a spicy condiment with rice. The Kelabit tenem, "wild pepper berries", are this plant.
- In the French Borneo kitchen
- With Bario salt, the crust for the aged venison in Course III, Mountain, at Osaka.
- Season and place
- Found at Kampung Kiding, Padawan, and in the mountains of northern and eastern Sarawak, including the Lun Bawang villages of Long Telingan and Long Kerebangan. In 2015 all harvesting was from wild trees.
- Conservation status
- Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2021 assessment); not listed under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998.
- Codex Alimentarius
- No Codex standard
- Medicinal knowledge
- Held privately by the community
- Consent
- Given, recorded by CHASS, 30 October 2026
Still to be confirmed: who shared it with Serumpun.
Sources
- DayakDaily, 2025
- Going Places
- The Star, Promising 'Pahkak', 2015
- Going Places (Malaysia Airlines), Scents of the rainforest: Sarawak's litsea oil
- GBIF, IUCN Red List checklist record for Litsea cubeba, citing de Kok, IUCN Red List 2021, e.T150217538A150219934
- IUCN Red List, Litsea cubeba
- Malaysian Timber Council, Sarawak's Wildlife Protection Ordinance (protected plants list)
Added to the Codex on 1 November 2026. Sources last checked on 1 November 2026.
Anyone may cook with this knowledge, commercially too, provided the community it comes from is credited by name. To correct or withdraw this entry, write to the Custodian at connect@chefjameswon.com.
How to cite this entry
Serumpun Sarawak (2026) ‘Litsea’, The Serumpun Codex, ed. James Won. Available at: https://www.chefjameswon.com/serumpun/codex/litsea/ (sources checked 1 November 2026).
Quote any entry with this citation, and name the community whose knowledge it is.