Peppercorns are actually a tiny fruit, the drupe (a fruit with a single seed in the middle) of a flowering vine known as piper nigrum, grown in tropical regions, native to the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. Some of the best peppercorns in the world come from the Malabar Coast in the Indian state of Kerala.
Where do peppercorns come from?
Some of the best peppercorns in the world come from the Malabar Coast in the Indian state of Kerala. Once a luxury item, only available to the wealthy, peppercorns and the resultant ground pepper, particularly black pepper, is now one of the most common culinary spices. Added, along with salt, to almost every dish we eat.
Begin at the beginning: the pepper plant, growing from India to Indonesia to Madagascar, into long pepper vines wrapped around trees, trellises, the sides of homes. The fruit of these vines ripens to a bright, fragrant red, and from there they are dried to either black peppercorns or the mysterious white pepper .
Where do black peppercorns come from?
Black peppercorns are picked from unripe or green pepper fruit . They are dried for a few days to produce the familiar tiny wrinkly black fruit. Peppercorns contain a seed, and this is the portion of the fruit that produces white peppercorns.
What are black peppercorns?
Black peppercorns are the dried fruit of the almost-mature pepper berry (in fact all pepper is from the same plant, piper nigrum ). They are usually sundried, but can be oven dried, in a process that leaves the outer layer, the pericarp, oxidized and black (get ready for the word “pericarp” to show up a few times).
Is peppercorn the same as pepper?
Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).
You should be asking “What is the difference between black peppercorns and white pepper?”
The fruit of these vines ripens to a bright, fragrant red, and from there they are dried to either black peppercorns or the mysterious white pepper. Black peppercorns are the dried fruit of the almost-mature pepper berry (in fact all pepper is from the same plant, piper nigrum ).
How to grow peppercorns?
Growing black pepper plants are actually vines most often propagated through vegetative cuttings and interspersed among shade crop trees, such as coffee. Conditions for growing black pepper plants require high temps, heavy and frequent rainfall, and well draining soil, met in the countries of India,.