producing black pepper. Today India,
Indonesia, and Brazil are the major world
sources.
Pepper Production Black pepper is the small
dried berry of a climbing vine in the genus
Piper, which includes a number of other spice
and herb plants (see box, p. 429). The berries
of Piper nigrum form on a flower spike a few
centimeters long, and take about six months to
mature. As berries mature and ripen, their
content of pungent piperine continuously
increases, while their aromatics reach a peak
and then decline. Fully ripe berries may
contain less than half of the aroma that they
had at the late green stage. The ripe berry skin
is red, but turns dark brown to black after
harvest thanks to the activity of browning
enzymes. The inner seed is largely starch,
with some oil, from 3–9% pungent piperine,
and 2–3% volatile oil.
Black, White, Green, and Rose-Colored