Black Pepper Crushed

Crushed Black Pepper

Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. When fresh and fully mature, the fruit is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter and dark red, and contains a single seed, like all drupes. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper.

Black pepper is native to present-day South India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Producing 36% of the world total in 2018, Vietnam is the largest producer and exporter of pepper.