YLSNE: Black Pepper's Trip From the Farm to Your Kitchen

Before anything else. I am claiming the rightful ownership of this cool acronym. The Hubby thought of this. It's ours. I don't care if some internet person discovers it and makes a brand, website, money, whatever, out of it. YLSNE. You Learng Something New Everyday.

While cooking dinner last Sunday, Hubby saw me sprinkle ground pepper in the dish. He didn't see the bottle so he got curious and asked what I just added. Pepper. Then I got curious. I asked if he's ever seen a pepper plant. I know that "munggo" (Mung Bean) comes from a pod. Our class took care of them in 5th grade gardening. But pepper plant?

We agreed that it's time to Google the origin of black pepper.

Here's the Wiki entry for Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum).

Black pepper comes from a flowering vine.


Image is from here

These are the seeds.


Image is from here

The seeds are harvested (entire stem) and are left to dry under the sun. The stems are removed after the seeds turn black.


Image is from here


Image is from here

Here's another image of the pepper drying process from Vietnam. I have no issues with feet. I just don't like it when they are involved in processing anything that will somehow find its way in my food.



May we all be blessed with black pepper, ground or otherwise, from pretty bottles. And may they bring, in their purest essence, the umph in good food. That means without the flavor of dirty feet.