Pepper

About

Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice, and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spicy from the capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is ubiquitous in the Western world as a seasoning, and is often paired with salt and available on dining tables in shakers or mills.

Growing

Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well-drained, and rich in organic matter (the vines do not do well over an altitude of 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level). The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and then typically for seven years.

Local

Common Recipes

Varieties

Black

Most commonly used, it is produced from the still-green, unripe drupe of the pepper plant. The drupes are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying

Green

Fresh, unpreserved green pepper drupes are used in some cuisines like Thai cuisine and Tamil cuisine

White

Ground white pepper is commonly used in Chinese, Thai, and Portuguese cuisines

Nutritional Information

Based on a 100g portion 1

name amount
water 0 g
energy 0 kJ
protein 0 g
fat 0 g

References


  1. USDA Fooddata Central Database -- https://fdc.nal.usda.gov