Ceylon Black Pepper

Product Description

The world's most popular spice, black pepper grows as a berry in grapelike clusters on the pepper plant. The berry is processed to produce three basic types: black, white, and green. Black is the most common; when picked the berry is not quite ripe and then dried until it shrivels and the skin turns dark brown to black.

Black is the strongest (slightly hot with a hint of sweetness) flavour of the three. Tellicherry and Lampong are among the best black peppercorns. White peppercorn, less pungent, has been allowed to ripen, then the skin is removed and the berry dried. White peppercorns are smaller, have a smoother skin and a light-tan colour with a milder flavour. The green peppercorn is the soft, under ripe berry that is usually preserved in brine. It has a fresh flavour that is less pungent than the berry in its other forms.

Black pepper comes from the pepper plant, a smooth woody vine that can grow up to *3 feet in hot and humid tropical climates. They begin to bear small white clustered flowers after three to four years and develop into berries known as peppercorns. Black peppercorns are actually berries that are picked when they're just turning red. Ground peppercorns produce the spice we call pepper.