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THE CHEF ENCYCLOPEDIA:
Culinary Herb & Spice Reference Guide
Pepper
[also Black Pepper, White Pepper, and Green Pepper]
(Piper nigrum)
Family: Piperaceae
Native to Asia and believed to have originated on the Malabar Coast
of southwestern India where there are still wild plants, Black Pepper
is an entirely different plant than the Capsicum varieties (see Chili).
Black Pepper is indigenous in South India and Indo-China, but is also
cultivated in the East and West Indies, Malay Peninsula, Malay Archipelago,
Thailand, and Malabar. The best places for growing pepper are now India,
Sarawak in Indonesia, and Brazil. The plant will climb 20 or more feet,
but for commercial purposes is restricted to 12 feet. The pepper plant
is propagated by cuttings and grown at the base of trees (like coffee)
with a rough bark to support them. Three or four years after planting
they commence fruiting, and their productiveness continues until about
the fifteenth year. The berries are collected as soon as they turn red
and before they are quite ripe, and are then dried in the sun. Pepper
has an aromatic odor, with a pungent and bitterish taste. Pepper is
used in most cuisines, and is the most common table seasoning after
salt. From the same plant as Piper nigrum, White Pepper is ripe fruit,
partially deprived of its pericarp (skin) by maceration in water, then
rubbed and dried in the sun. White Pepper is more aromatic than black
and not so pungent, and it is often used more in white sauces for visual
reasons.
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