Black pepper, otherwise called as "king of spices" has been one of the much needed commodities in the world market. Actually this pepper is native to South India, from where it gets cultivated also in other tropical regions in the world. Pepper is being considered as the most important spice from time immemorial.
Black pepper, known by its scientific name Piper nigrum is a flowering vine belonging to the piperaceae family. These plants are basically climbers and it could reach a height of up to 10 meters. The fruits cultivated from the plant called peppercorns is the source of our spice. The fully matured fresh fruits (peppercorns) are dark red in color and sizes 5mm in diameter. The fruit of pepper comes under drupes as it contains a single seed.
Black pepper is the most common spice which is used in almost every cuisine around the world as its flavor blends perfectly with all of them. Indian black pepper's rich and unique spiciness is attributed to its chemical compound, an active alkaloid called piperine.
Varieties of Pepper:
There are four known variants of pepper based on its color viz.,
- Black pepper
- White pepper
- Green pepper
- Red pepper
Among the above four variants black and white varieties are most common whereas green and red peppers are available in certain areas only due to their limited usage.
Black pepper:
Black pepper is prepared from the unripe peppercorn which is still green in color. For this, unripe drupes are harvested before the ripening stage from the plant. Then get into quick boiling in order to clean as well as a preparation for drying. The cell wall gets ruptured upon boiling and stimulates the browning enzyme for speed drying. The peppercorn has to be sun dried for several days until its outer part shrinks and darkens. Some farmers could not bring the drupes for boiling but carry out sun drying alone. Once they get completely dried, those spices are called as black pepper.
White Pepper:
White pepper is nothing but the seed of the drupe without the outer flesh and skin. This is prepared from the ripen red color pepper drupes by soaking them in water for about a week. This preparation could soften the fruit part and ease decomposition by the process called Retting. Then the seeds are rubbed well mechanically to get rid of the debris. Naked seeds collected are allowed to dry immensely under the sun to get the white peppercorns.
Cultivars in India:
In India, black pepper is largely cultivated in Tamilnadu and Kerala. Among them, kolli hills black pepper is having high market value due to its rich aroma and lingering bite.
Famous Indian black pepper varieties are Karimunda, Sreekara, Subhakara, Panchami, Pournami, IISR Thevam, IISR Malabar Excel, IISR Girimunda, IISR Sakthi, PLD-2, Panniyur 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Among these, karimunda grown in kolli hills are found to be the best quality Indian black pepper variety due to its traditional notch.
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