It turns out that the off-flavors develop during the fermentation. Pepper is grown and white pepper produced in the tropics, and thanks to the heat and the stagnant fermentation water, microbes flourish that break down peppercorn flesh to variations on the molecule indole and other compounds that smell rotten, fecal, cheesy, and chemical .
One thought is that so when laurenwrote in to ask about white pepper’s unpleasant odor , it was a revelation. I had no idea anyone else felt the same way! Unlike its black counterpart, white pepper can possess a medicinal or barnyard-like smell.
Pepper is grown and white pepper produced in the tropics, and thanks to the heat and the stagnant fermentation water, microbes flourish that break down peppercorn flesh to variations on the molecule indole and other compounds that smell rotten, fecal, cheesy, and chemical .
Black pepper’spungent bite comes from the alkaloid -piperine and piperidine, combined with resins found mostly in the seeds. Its aromatic, slightly musty odorcomes from the volatile oils found largely in the flesh and skin . These are the oils that go into creating this elegant Black Pepperscent.
This of course begs the query “Why does black pepper have a musty smell?”
Well, black pepper’s pungent bite comes from the alkaloid -piperine and piperidine, combined with resins found mostly in the seeds. Its aromatic, slightly musty odor comes from the volatile oils found largely in the flesh and skin .
One query we ran across in our research was “Why does my mouth taste like pepper when I eat?”.
One way to consider this is elevation is a very effective way to relieve acid reflux that occurs overnight , including that which causes a pepper taste in the mouth.
Is it true that all white pepper has these unpleasant notes?
In the printed version of the column, the third-to-last paragraph suggests that all white pepper carries these unpleasant notes. This is not true . You can find a corrected version of the column here .
You could be asking “Is black pepper bad for You?”
The most common answer is, Black pepper may be an exception . Especially in higher amounts it poses potential problems, which I’ve noted throughout my career and will summarize again here. Like the green version, black pepper is the cooked and dried unripe fruit from the Piperaceae family. The ripe seed of the fruit is white pepper.
This micro-bleeding can occur with black pepper, which can also reduce the stomach’s secretion of healthy digestive juices . Because so much of the immune system is housed in the gut, immunity may be compromised too, along with function of the urinary tract, prostate, and potentially elsewhere.
This of course begs the inquiry “What happened to black pepper in root beer?”
One way to think about this is we learned in the 1960s that the phytochemical safrole, found in such spices as sassafras and black pepper was potentially toxic in higher amounts. Sassafras was removed from root beer, but people continued using pepper.
What does it mean when you smell something that isn’t there?
It could be a tumor – that’s on the top of your list of things to rule out — but it could also be a cyst or some infectious agent housed in the area of the brain where the smell is processed.” Brief episodes of phantom smells or phantosmia — smelling something that’s not there — can be triggered by temporal lobe seizures, epilepsy, or head trauma.
So, why do I smell sweet things that are not there?
Brief episodes of phantom smells or phantosmia — smelling something that’s not there — can be triggered by temporal lobe seizures, epilepsy, or head trauma. Phantosmia is also associated with Alzheimer’s and occasionally with the onset of a migraine. But it’s not typically something sweet that’s conjured up by the brain .
Why does maple syrup smell like coffee?
Like coffee, maple flavor is one that relies heavily on your sense of smell to be perceived by the tongue, so people who think they’re smelling syrup might really be experiencing a phantom taste .