Cha phlu
Also known as cha plu, chaplu, phlu ling, kadok batu, chabai, Piper sarmentosum
Quick answer
The leaf of Piper sarmentosum, a creeping pepper of South and South-East Asia grown in home gardens. In northern Thailand its fresh leaves give spicy soups an aromatic, peppery edge.
- Tastes of
- peppery, pungent, bitter, green
- Heat
- Scoville does not apply
- Goes with
- Rice
Other names
What this spice is called elsewhere, and where the translation is not clean.
cha phlu
Thai — Central Thailand
phlu ling
Thai — Northern Thailand
nom wa
Thai — Peninsular Thailand
kadok batu
Malay — Malaysia
tiêu lốt
Vietnamese
sirih tanah
Indonesian — Moluccas
Flavour and aroma
Spicy, pungent and somewhat bitter; it gives soups an aromatic, refined spiciness.
Spicy, in the review’s scent classification.
Heat
Pungency scale: none — this spice is not pungent
Spicy and pungent, as a pepper leaf.
Pairings
Ranked by how well established the combination is, with the reason and the caveats attached.
Foods
Rice
StrongFresh cha phlu leaves season khao ber, the spicy rice soup of the Karen of northern Thailand.
How: In khao ber
Preparation and use
A fresh leaf for the spicy soups of northern Thailand, including the Karen rice soup khao ber; in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand the tender leaves are also eaten as a vegetable.
Storage and freshness
| Form | Good for | Conditions | Fridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh | Not established | Refrigerated, wrapped, and used within days. | Yes |
Quality is not the same as safety
A wilted leaf is a quality matter; a slimy or mouldy one is discarded.
Forms
The form the sources describe, and so the one this page is about.
Fresh leaves
Fresh leaves, added to soups.
Botany
Piperaceae
The pepper family.
The fresh leaf in Thai cooking; the dried fruiting spike is occasionally used as a spice.
An erect or ascending, often stoloniferous herb or shrublet up to 1 m tall with heart-shaped lower leaves 7–15 cm long, growing in shady thickets up to 600 m.
Commonly confused with
Piper longum. Confused with this species in the past, according to the PROSEA account; long pepper is grown for its fruiting spike, cha phlu for its leaf.
How it is grown
The plant, how it is propagated and farmed, what threatens the crop, and where it is produced now. Crop diseases here are plant health, not food safety.
The fresh leaves of a creeping, often stoloniferous herb or shrublet up to 1 m tall; the dried fruiting spike is occasionally used as a spice too.
Wild in shady thickets from India to southern China and from the Philippines to the Moluccas, and commonly grown in home gardens in Thailand.
Where it comes from and how it is made
From India to southern China, and from the Philippines south to the Moluccas.
- Thailand — native range. Commonly grown in home gardens.
- Malaysia — native range
- Indonesia — native range
- Vietnam — native range
A perennial with creeping rhizomes, commonly grown in home gardens in Thailand.
Shady thickets up to 600 m.
Buying and quality
- Glossy, unwilted leaves.
- Sold under its Thai or Malay name; several Piper leaves are sold under overlapping names.
Culture
Recorded by tradition rather than merged into one narrative — these are genuinely different practices.
Northern Thailand
Fresh leaves add aroma and a refined spiciness to traditional spicy soups, among them khao ber, the spicy rice soup of the Karen. It is one of the nine wild herbs and spices most often reported in Thai ethnobotanical studies.
- In spicy soups
- In khao ber, the Karen rice soup
Also documented in northern Thailand: Litsea berry, Makwaen, Thua nao, Vietnamese coriander.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand
The tender leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
- Tender leaves as a vegetable
Widely used in traditional medicine where it grows. Recorded as context only; SpiceHQ makes no health claim.
What it is called
- Thai: cha phlu
- Malay: kadok batu
What we do not know
Published openly. A gap we have named is more useful than a gap we have filled with plausible prose.
Not yet established for cha phlu:
- Propagation
- Archaeological evidence
- Historical timeline
- Ceremonial use
- Regulatory limits
- Traditional uses
Its history. No historical source held here dates its use.