Where Does Pepper Come From? BLACK & WHITE & GREEN & RED & PINK.

In restaurants, freshly ground black pepper is about at common as ice water. It is a household staple, and can bring a bland meal to life with just a few cracks. It comes in a variety of colors, and each gives off a different aroma and flavor. But we’ve all probably wondered, where does pepper come from?

1. Where Does Black Pepper Come From?

Black pepper is not an actual chili pepper (capsicum), but is the tiny fruit of the piper nigrum vine. These fruits are harvested early, when still green, and dried until the skin turns a dark black color, making what we know as black pepper.

The piper nigrum plant is the source for more than just black pepper. It is also the same fruit that is used to make white pepper, green peppercorns and red peppercorns. These four types of pepper have very different flavors and applications in cooking. This is due to when they are harvested, and how they are prepared.

Piper nigrum is grown in Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia and India, with Vietnam producing the largest quantity of pepper in today’s global trade.

How Is Black Pepper Made?

Black pepper is made by using mature, but unripe berries from the piper nigrum vine. The berries are often hand picked from the vines, which can grow over 20 feet high when climbing on trees. See for yourself in this video taken in Southern India. The berries are then separated from the vine and sun-dried for a number of days until they turn hard and black. The key to the method is when the berries are harvested. If they are picked too early, they will lack the heat of black pepper. If they are harvested later, the color of the berries changes to red, and the berries can spoil more easily. To make black pepper, the berries must be picked around the time that they are turning from green to yellow.

2. White Pepper

In North America, black pepper is dominant, while in Europe white is much more common. It tends to be a bit more expensive due to the increased production required to make it.

What Is White Pepper?

White pepper is made using the same plant that is used to produce black pepper, piper nigrum. To make it, the tiny fruits are picked when partially ripened, the skin is removed, and the fruits are then dried.

Removing the skin takes away much of the pepper’s spiciness, making the flavor more smooth and complex. This is also what prevents the berries from turning black. The skin of the berries is what wrinkles and darkens during the drying process of producing black pepper.

3. Green Peppercorn

Green peppercorn is a less common variety of pepper, and is produced by harvesting extremely under-ripe fruits from the piper nigrum plant. The unripe berries are then either dried or pickled. The flavor can be described as fresh and earthy, but not spicy like typical black pepper.

Why Are Green Peppercorns So Expensive?

Green peppercorns is more expensive than black and white pepper corns since the berries are picked very early during the growth period, the yields are much lower. Thus, the price of green peppercorn is typically higher than that of black or white pepper.

4. Red Peppercorn

Red peppercorns are the rarest form of pepper, and are commonly mixed up with pink peppercorn. The red peppercorn is another pepper that is produced using the piper nigrum plant.

How is Red Peppercorn Made?

Red peppercorns are made using the berries of the piper nigrum vine. Berries are harvested when they are very ripe, and have turned from green to a deep red color. They are then dried or preserved in a brine (pickled). The flavor is similar to regular pepper, but the berries are noticeably larger due to the later harvest. The dried appearance of the peppercorns is similar to a black pepper kernel, but has a slight, maroon tone.

5. Pink Peppercorn

Far more common than true red peppercorn is pink peppercorn. These berries look very similar to red peppercorn, but are in fact from another plant. Pink peppercorn is derived from the Schinus molle tree native to the Peruvian Andes. The plant has many nicknames, one of which is the “false pepper” due to the common mix-up between it and a true peppercorn (piper nigrum).

Pink pepper is produced by simply drying the ripe berries from the schunus molle tree. The flavor is very similar to that of black pepper, explaining why the two are interchangeable. Some think that the pink peppercorn tastes slightly more acidic and sweet, but is generally very “peppery” in flavor.

Source: peppergeek.com