Archive for February 12th, 2012

Comparison of Black Pepper

12th February

2012

written by indusorg

Black pepper has been known as king of spices. It can be found in every dining room, irrespective of country, religion and financial status. However, there are marked differences in the pepper grown in Brazil, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. People around the world love little spiciness in their food. Black pepper is used in various cuisines, cheese, chips, drinks etc. Black Pepper can not be grown in Europe, Russia, China and North America due to weather and soil conditions. Most of the black pepper in the western world is imported from above mentioned countries. It is so common a product that futures are sold in the stock market. Pepper Farmers call it, “Black Gold”, since it can be stored for long period of time and can be sold worldwide.The popular saying of, ”money does not grow on trees”, does not apply to pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. These are some of the most expensive spices in the world for centuries. These products have colonized countries and wars have been fought. Columbus was looking for pepper and other spices when he arrived in America. British colonized India for pepper trade for a century. Following map shows the map location of Tellicherry region in Kerala, India.

Map of Tellicherry Region

Black pepper grows on vines in rain forests of cardamom, ginger, turmeric, clove and coffee. Let us look at the pepper from India that has been used worldwide for its taste, aroma and pungency. There are mainly two known grades, Malabar and Tellicherry. These names signify their origin just like French Wines. There are marked differences between two peppers. These peppers are classified based on bulk density, size and percentage of light berries as shown in the table

Black Pepper Comparison

Steam Sterilized Pepper Type	Berry Size	Bulk Density	% Light Berries By Weight
Organic Malabar Black Peppercorn	3.75 mm	550 gm/liter	2.0%
Organic Tellicherry Black Peppercorns	4.75 mm	590 gm/liter	1.25%
Organic Jumbo Black Peppercorns	5.5 mm	570 gm/liter	0.85%

A black pepper is marked Tellicherry Special ExtraBold (TGSEB) when berries can be retained on sieve having holes of diameter 4.75 mm and it has bulk density of about 500 gm/lt. Malabar black pepper is retained on sieve of 3.75 mm and it has bulk density of 550 gm/lt. We can see the picture of these peppercorns in the following:

Indus Organics Jumbo Black Peppercorn

Jumbo Peppercorns are the largest ripe berries. These fully mature berries have very unique taste compared to ordinary pepper. We steam sterilize the Jumbo berries for high purity. This removes some of the softer outer skin of the ripe berries. These berries before steam sterilization are more than 5.5 mm in diameter which makes them the largest black pepper in the world. Click here to buy them online

Indus Organics Jumbo Pepper

Indus Organic Tellicherry Pepper

Indus Organics Tellicherry Special Extra Bold (TGSEB) Peppercorn are very high quality peppercorns grown in southern India. These mature and ripe berries have unique taste and aroma. These peppers are steam sterilized to obtain high purity and low microbial. Steam sterilization of pepper reduces the size of fully ripe berries. Lot of companies sell lower grade pepper with large size. These peppers are not steam sterilized. Devil is in the details. Click here to buy them online