Crushed smoked black pepper

How is black pepper grown?

Botanical properties of black pepper

The first traces of pepper were found in Southern India. The botanical name of black pepper is Piper nigrum which is the fruit of a giant creeper from the Piperaceae family. It grows up trees with rough, cracked bark which helps it grip on and climb up often as high as four metres. Piper nigrum needs a tropical climate with strong sun and humidity and requires both shade and light to thrive. When it is picked and how it is treated after picking will determine its colour and flavours. Black pepper is harvested when fully ripe. The drying process turns the smooth orangey peppercorn into the dark brown wrinkled pepper that we all know and love. This black pepper is then slowly smoked under a fire of beech wood in our workshops, in France, for several days, to obtain its distinctive aromas.

Where to use smoked crushed black pepper

Our recipe ideas for this smoked crushed black pepper:

• Mackerel with smoked crushed black pepper and sweet potato mash: marinate your mackerel fillets in 1 teaspoon of smoked crushed black pepper;

• Roast beef with smoked crushed black pepper: sprinkle a few twists of your pepper mill filled with smoked crushed black pepper over your sliced roast beef just before serving;

• marinated salmon with smoked crushed black pepper: sprinkle 1 teaspoon of ground smoked black pepper over your salmon then add lemon juice and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge then cut into small pieces and serve as carpaccio;

• Seabass with smoked crushed black pepper: sprinkle 3g of smoked crushed black pepper in a frying with shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, salt and aromatic herbs then reduce. Serve this sauce with your seabass.

Recipe idea for smoked crushed black pepper

Discover our mackerel with smoked crushed black pepper and sweet potato mash recipe.

What flavours does smoked crushed black pepper release?

The first impression you get of this pepper is clearly its smoky aromas. Then the woody scents of this Malabar pepper with notes of santal and floral, balsamic aromas with hints of soft fruit. It releases tannic and spicy flavours which are perfect with fish or roast red meat.

Discover Terre Exotique’s other smoked peppers:

- Black smoked pepper;

- White smoked Penja pepper.

What is the difference between white, black and green pepper?

The difference is linked to the ripeness at which the peppercorns are harvested. Green pepper is a harvested before it is fully ripe which gives it its fresh lemony notes. Black pepper is picked just before it ripens then dried in the sun. Its aromas are spicy and full-bodied. White pepper is picked when fully ripe, it is then dried and its pericarp is removed.