Black Pepper

Black pepper is obtained from the green, unripe berries of the pepper plant. The Vietnamese farmer cooks the drapes for a short time in hot water. This is a process that aims at cleaning the drapes and getting them ready for drying. The hot water is mainly used to rupture the drapes’ wall cells, which activates the browning process that ends up increasing the time of browning during drying.

The drapes are mostly dried in the sun or by the use of a drying machine. During this process, the pepper skin that enwraps the drapes’ skin darkens into a thin, crinkly black coat. At the stage where the drapes are thoroughly dried, they are referred to as the black peppercorn.