On Food and Cooking

sun-or machine-dried for several days,
during which the outer fruit layer
darkens.
White pepper consists of the pepper seed
only, without the outer fruit layer. It’s
made from fully ripe berries, which are
soaked in water for a week to allow the
fruit layer to be degraded by bacteria,
then rubbed to remove the fruit layer, and
finally dried. White pepper is mainly
valued for providing pungency while
remaining invisible in light-colored
sauces and other preparations. It was
developed into a major commercial
product in Indonesia, which is still its
major producer.
Green pepper is made from berries
harvested a week or more before they
would otherwise begin to ripen. The
berries are simply preserved by treating
with sulfur dioxide and dehydration, by
canning or bottling in brine, or by freeze-