Place des Épices
Place des Épices is a small organic spice workshop in Drap, a village in the Alpes-Maritimes just inland from Nice. It selects peppercorns, spices, blends and salts from growers around the world, has its work inspected and certified by Ecocert, and grinds its spices to order rather than keeping them milled on a shelf. Clipperton brings a selection of its tins to Canada and the United States.
The house
The business was started by two partners, Frédérique and Franck, one trained as a botanist and the other a former art director, who come from a family of restaurateurs, hoteliers and food professionals. That background shows in how they work: rather than buying finished spice mixes, they travel to find the raw material, work with recognized suppliers in France and Europe, and prepare and pack everything themselves at the workshop in Drap.
Two principles define the house. The first is organic farming: the great majority of its references are certified organic, and the workshop is inspected by Ecocert every six months, which has singled out the quality of its traceability. The second is freshness. Ground spice loses its aroma quickly, so Place des Épices mills blends and single spices only when an order comes in, a practice it describes as "ground to order". Whole spices, such as peppercorns, nutmeg, star anise and cloves, are sold intact so that you can grind them yourself.
The house also has a particular passion for pepper. Its catalog runs to dozens of varieties and origins, from the protected Kampot pepper of Cambodia to wild peppers gathered by hand in the forests of Madagascar, and it treats each as a distinct ingredient with its own character rather than a generic seasoning.
What they make
The Clipperton range concentrates on three families: single-origin peppercorns, whole and ground organic spices, and ready-made blends and salts, all packed in tins.
- Black Peppercorn PGI Kampot – organic, from southern Cambodia, protected by a geographical indication since 2010.
- Black Peppercorn Voatsiperifery – a wild pepper hand-harvested in the humid forests of Madagascar.
- Épices Zaatar – an organic blend of oregano, sumac and roasted sesame.
- Turmeric Ground – an organic kitchen staple, ground to order.
- Wine Salt – Île de Ré salt worked with Cabernet and Sauvignon wine and spices.
The full Place des Épices collection also includes Tellicherry, Malabar, Penja, Sichuan and Sri Lankan peppers, smoked and hot paprika, cinnamon, cumin, sumac, curry and barbecue blends, and Maldon fleur de sel.
Why Clipperton chose them
Clipperton is a family importer, and we look for makers who do one thing thoroughly. Place des Épices is a workshop, not a brand built on a logo: two people who know where every peppercorn comes from, who grind only when the order comes in, and whose organic certification is checked twice a year. We deal with them directly, and we like that a tin of their pepper arrives in Canada or the US tasting the way it did in Drap. For a closer look at the range and how to use it, read our Journal guide to organic spices from Place des Épices.
