Black Pepper | Plant, Cultivation, & Description | Britannica

Home » How Did Black Pepper Get To America » Black Pepper | Plant, Cultivation, & Description | Britannica

Maybe your like

Cultivation and harvest

The plant requires a long rainy season, fairly high temperatures, and partial shade for best growth. Propagation is usually by stem cuttings, which are set out near a tree or a pole that will serve as a support. Pepper plants are sometimes interspersed in tea or coffee plantations. They begin bearing in 2 to 5 years and may produce for as long as 40 years.

The fruits are picked when they begin to turn red. The collected fruits are immersed in boiling water for about 10 minutes, which causes them to turn dark brown or black in an hour. Then they are spread out to dry in the sun for three or four days. The whole peppercorns, when ground, yield black pepper. White pepper is obtained by removing the dark outer part of the pericarp, and the flavor is less pungent than that of black pepper. The outer coating is softened either by keeping the berries in moist heaps for 2 or 3 days or by keeping them in sacks submerged in running water for 7 to 15 days, depending on the region. The softened outer coating is then removed by washing and rubbing or by trampling, and the berries are spread in the sun to dry. Whole white pepper can also be prepared by grinding off the outer coating mechanically.

Also called: pepper (Show more) Related Topics: white pepper black pepper Piper (Show more) On the Web: PennState - PlantVillage - Black Pepper (Dec. 18, 2025) (Show more) See all related content

Tag » How Did Black Pepper Get To America