Black Pepper

Black Pepper is one of the oldest and best-known spices in the world. Pepper plant is a perennial climber with dark green leaves and spikes of white flowers. The peppercorn is a berry like drupe, about ½ cm in diameter, green when unripe and then red. Black pepper comes from whole fruit, picked just before they are completely ripe and dried. Peppercorns are very strong in aroma and taste and can be stored for many years without losing its flavor. The fruits are treated in many ways. The green fruits are sun dried for 7-10 days until the flesh around the single hard seed is wrinkled and become greyish black, then ground into black pepper or sold as whole peppercorns. The green pepper picked much earlier before ripening is air dried and used as such. It is one the most tangling peppery Indian Spices. Black Peppers are mostly grounded to make powder. The powder is used in making curry powder and sambhar powder. It is used in marinating fish and meat. Besides this, is widely used in making sauces, pickels and soup preparations.