This year, our black pepper plants started bearing well. The last few years, we have just had a few minor fruits but not much to speak of.
The picture above shows picked peppercorns from two plants only. The green drupes started in September and I had actually been watching them all this time waiting for them to mature to red peppercorns. At that stage, white pepper can be made through a process of retting and fermentation. But, alas I have grown impatient and decided to have black peppercorns this year. So, for the last few days, the pepper has been spread out to dry in the sun. It took 3 days for the pepper to dry completely to its black state. I managed to get two quart jars of dried black peppercorns…not bad from just two plants.
Just out of interest, to keep the green colour of the pepper they have to go through a preservation process (using sulphur dioxide like in dried fruit) before drying. Similarly, to get red peppercorns, preservation of colour with a chemical is used before drying.
Our black pepper plants were grown from cuttings about 2 to 3 years ago. This perennial woody vine prefers shade and so we planted ours next to coconut trees so that the vine would grow up the trunks. This was a great combination because the fallen coconut leaves produced humus and leaf litter which set up perfect growing conditions for the pepper. Piper nigrum are known to produce fruit for up to 7 years after the first flowering. I found some pepper seedlings in the leaf litter and I have potted these so that we never have to buy black pepper again!
