What is uziza? Uziza is Piper guineense, a West African pepper vine. Its leaves (uziza leaf) and small dried seeds (uziza seed) bring heat and a fresh, peppery smell to Nigerian soups. In English, uziza is called Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper or West African pepper, and the seeds are sometimes sold as false cubeb or Guinea cubeb.
Cooks use both parts of the plant, and they don't behave the same way in the pot. Put the leaf in too early and you'll lose most of its smell; the seed can take a longer cook.
What is uziza in English?
Uziza has several English names. A 2016 study in the journal Scientifica lists seven for the spice made from its dried fruit: West African pepper, Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, uziza pepper and Guinea pepper. PROSEA, the plant reference for South-East Asia, adds black West African pepper. Its scientific name is Piper guineense, and PROSEA gives Piper clusii as an older synonym.
Here are some of its names in other languages:
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Hausa | masoro |
| Twi | soro wisa |
| Fante | sasema |
| French | poivre du Kissi; poivre d'Anchantis |
What is uziza seed?
Uziza seed is the small dried fruit of the uziza vine, Piper guineense, sold whole or ground as a hot, pungent spice. In English it's called West African pepper, Ashanti pepper or Benin pepper, and the Scientifica study lists false cubeb and Guinea cubeb too. In the pot it's there for heat as much as smell, so it can be ground and cooked in.
What is uziza leaf?
Uziza leaf is the leaf of the same vine. The Scientifica study says the leaves are used as a leafy vegetable pepper in many African soups, and that the seeds, leaves and sometimes the stems give food heat and a spicy, pungent aroma. In the kitchen the leaf is a green you slice and add near the end. The leaves are sold fresh in bunches, and dried or frozen outside West Africa.
Where uziza grows
Uziza is a climbing pepper vine from the forests of West and Central Africa. A 1988 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry describes it as a climber common in Africa's tropical forests. Its berries are usually on sale in local markets as a condiment. The Scientifica study notes it's a plant of the wet tropics that needs heavy, well spread rainfall.
It's a cousin of black pepper, in the same genus, Piper. The 1988 study says it belongs to the group of peppers known as false cubebs and that its berries are often used in place of black pepper.
Why uziza leaves go in near the end
Uziza's smell comes from an aromatic oil, and that oil lifts out with steam. The 1988 study collected that oil from the berries by steam distillation and found its main parts were myristicin, sarisan, safrole and elemicin. That study was on the berries, but AFN's own yam porridge recipe makes the same point about the leaves: their aroma is volatile, and a few minutes of cooking takes most of it away. So AFN's recipes add sliced leaves late: three to five minutes in ogbono soup, five minutes in uziza egusi soup and one minute in fisherman soup.
Ground seed is different. Our nsala soup adds ground uziza seed ten minutes in and leaves it to boil, and our fisherman soup simmers it with the fish for 20 to 30 minutes.
Can I use uziza leaf for egusi soup?
Yes, you can use uziza leaf in egusi soup, and AFN has a whole recipe built around it. Slice the leaves and add them once the egusi has set, then give them about five minutes, as our recipe does. The recipe's own tip says to add the uziza at the very end, because cooked long it turns bitter. Uziza is also an option in our vegan egusi soup.
Uziza egusi soup
Our recipe for uziza leaf in egusi soup uses a medium bunch of uziza leaves as the main green. The blended melon seed paste sets in lumps for 10 minutes, then the sliced leaves go in for five. Our guide to what egusi is explains the seed side of the pot.
More AFN recipes that use uziza
These recipes use the leaf, the seed, or both.
Nsala soup (white soup)
Nsala uses uziza both ways. Our nsala soup recipe lists two tablespoons of ground uziza seed and a cup of uziza leaves for this white soup thickened with pounded yam.
Nigerian fisherman soup
Our Nigerian fisherman soup recipe simmers a teaspoon of ground uziza seed with the fish, then finishes with a small bunch of shredded leaves just before serving.
Ogbono soup
A handful of uziza leaves gives ogbono soup its peppery finish. Our ogbono soup recipe adds them with ugwu for the last three to five minutes.
Oha soup
Our oha soup recipe uses a handful of uziza leaves, or a teaspoon of ground uziza seed, added with the hand-torn oha leaves.
Edo black soup
Here uziza is part of the thickener. Our Edo black soup recipe grinds two cups of sliced uziza leaves with bitter leaf and scent leaf, and those ground leaves give the soup its dark colour.
Goat meat pepper soup
Our goat meat pepper soup recipe stirs in two tablespoons of chopped uziza leaves at the end, with parsley as the swap if you can't find uziza.
You'll also find uziza in our Igbo yam porridge, otong soup and groundnut soup.
Uziza nutrition
A handful of leaves in a pot of soup won't change your diet much. The USDA's FoodData Central database has no entry for uziza, and the one recent study we found gives figures without saying whether they're for fresh or dried weight, so we've left them out until we can check the full paper.
How to store uziza
Keep dried uziza seeds whole in an airtight jar, away from heat and light, and grind them just before you cook. Fresh leaves wilt quickly, so wrap them in a dry paper towel in the fridge, or slice and freeze them if you won't use them soon.
Where to buy uziza
Outside West Africa, dried or frozen leaves are easier to find than fresh, and the seeds are sold whole or ground. For the other spices in the same cupboard, see our list of Nigerian spices.
A pepper with a trading past
PROSEA says uziza has long been sold as African cubeb, a stand-in for the pricier Asian spice. When cubebs fetched high prices, they were mixed with the fruits of other pepper species, Piper guineense among them. The 1988 study adds that the berries are widely used in West African traditional medicine.
Uziza questions people ask
What is uziza in English?
Uziza is called Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper or West African pepper in English. Its scientific name is Piper guineense.
What is uziza seed?
Uziza seed is the small dried fruit of the uziza vine, sold whole or ground as a hot spice. In English it's called West African pepper, Ashanti pepper or Benin pepper.
What is uziza seed used for?
Ground uziza seed adds heat and a pungent aroma to soups such as nsala and fisherman soup, and it can go into the pot earlier than the leaves.
Can I use uziza leaf for egusi soup?
Yes. Add sliced uziza leaves at the very end, as in our uziza egusi soup recipe, because uziza cooked too long turns bitter.
Can I swap uziza for something else?
Our goat meat pepper soup recipe suggests parsley if you can't find uziza leaves, though it won't give you the same peppery heat.
