Pepper
Black pepper is the unripe fruit of the vine Piper Nigrum, a perennial vine with dark green leaves and a spike of white flowers. White, green and pink peppercorns are berries from the same vine picked at different stages of maturity. The vine matures in seven to eight years and continues to bear fruits for 15 to 20 more years. The berries are harvested over two to three months in the Spring and Summer.
Pepper, the spice most widely used in the west, is native of the monsoon forests of the Malabar Coast in Southwest India . Pepper was once so valued that it was traded ounce for ounce for gold.
For centuries pepper was negotiable as currency in the East and the west. During the Middle Ages pepper was sometime used to pay rent, dowries and Taxes, and was extremely expensive. The demand for pepper provided the main impetus for the discovery of a sea route to the east by the explorer Vasco da Gama. The main producers of pepper today are Malaysia Indonesia Brazil
Aroma & Taste
Pepper has a warm woody smell that is fresh, pungent and agreeably aromatic. White pepper tastes hotter and less subtle than black pepper. Green pepper is not as hot and has a clean fresh taste.
Pepper is neither sweet or savory, just pungent and can therefore be used in both types of dish.
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