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Variety of Pepper
Black pepper is produced from the
still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are cooked
briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for
drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the fruit, speeding the work of
browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by
machine for several days, during which the fruit around the seed
shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer around the seed.
Once dried, the fruits are called black peppercorns.
White
pepper consists of the seed only, with the fruit removed. This is
usually accomplished by allowing fully ripe berries to soak in water
for about a week, during which time the flesh of the fruit softens and
decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the
naked seed is dried. Alternative processes are used for removing the
outer fruit from the seed, including removal of the outer layer from
black pepper produced from unripe berries.
Black pepper is the
most common, while white pepper is mainly used in dishes like
light-coloured sauces or mashed potatoes, where ground black pepper
would visibly stand out. There is disagreement regarding which is
generally more spicy. They do have differing flavours due to the
presence of certain compounds in the outer fruit layer of the berry
that are not found in the seed.
Green pepper, like black, is
made from the unripe berries. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a
manner that retains the green colour, such as treatment with sulphur
dioxide or freeze-drying. Pickled peppercorns, also green, are unripe
berries preserved in brine or vinegar. Fresh, unpreserved green pepper
berries, largely unknown in the West, are used in some Asian cuisine,
particularly Thai cuisine. Their flavour has been described as piquant
and fresh, with a bright aroma. They decay quickly if not dried or
preserved.
A rarely seen product called pink pepper consists of
ripe red pepper berries preserved in brine and vinegar. This pink
pepper is different from the more-common dried "pink peppercorns",
which are the fruits of a plant from a different family, the Peruvian
pepper tree, Schinus molle, and its relative the Brazilian pepper tree,
Schinus terebinthifolius.
Peppercorns are often categorised
under a label describing their region or port of origin. Two well-known
types come from India's Malabar Coast: Malabar pepper and Tellicherry
pepper. Tellicherry is purportedly a higher-grade pepper, made from
larger, riper berries. Sarawak pepper is produced in the Malaysian
portion of Borneo, and Lampong pepper on Indonesia's island of Sumatra.
White Muntok pepper is another Indonesian product, from Bangka Island.
Home > Black Pepper > Pepper Variety
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