Peppers Pepper berries are processed to make
several different versions of the spice.
Black and white pepper. Pepper comes from
the small fruits of a tropical vine. Black
pepper is made by drying the whole fruit; the
wrinkled dark outer coating is the dried fleshy
fruit layer. White pepper is made by removing
the fleshy layer before drying the seed.
Black pepper, the most common, is made
from mature but unripe berries, still
green and rich in aromatics. The berry
spikes are harvested from the vines and
the berries threshed from the spikes. The
berries are then blanched for a minute in
hot water to clean them and rupture the
cells of the fruit layer to speed the work
of the browning enzymes. Finally they’re