White Pepper (Ground)

PURPOSE

WHAT IS IT?

White pepper is a berry (fruit) which is usually left to fully ripen, and have the husks removed. In a finishing process, known as retting, fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week. The flesh of the fruit softens and decomposes. Rubbing the peppercorns further removes what remains of the fruit. The seed is next.dried where it becomes hard like a peppercorn.

The ground pepper, due to its method of preparation, maintains its flavor for a long time, and the fine grind is hard to reproduce with a mill or pestle. The peppercorns are useful for recipes that require marination or brining, or where multiple seeds are being incorporated together, but the ground is a staple of any kitchen.

EXPERIENCE

White pepper is fundamentally different than most other peppercorns.  Known for its sharper pungent aroma, LESS IS MORE. Do not use it as a 1:1 swap for black pepper.

It can produce a useful bitter/sharp at high cooking temps, which finds it in the best steakhouse steaks to focus the salt, savory onion powder, and black pepper of the most successful basic steakhouse recipes.

It brings an enticing aroma sprinkled into mashed potatoes, and gives omelettes a bit of pungency without the bitter.

CULINARY GEOGRAPHY

Peppercorns are native to south India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions like Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. There are several varieties.

Currently, Vietnam is the world’s largest producer and exporter of pepper. Plantations have doubled and tripled over the years. In 1930s, Brazil became a prime producer of this condiment in the Western hemisphere, but the best product still

VARIETIES

These are very rarely found outside of Asia and are prized for their flavor:

• Muntok – Indonesia
• Sawawak – Malaysia
• Malabar – India
• Tellicherry – India (Usually seen in the US as a black peppercorn)

TRADITIONAL USES

• Added to mashed potatoes at some of the best steakhouses in the world for a bit of pungent pop without the discoloration of black pepper
• Common to Chinese and American-Chinese cuisine, the pop in your Hot & Sour soup and General Tso’s Chicken.
• Cream soups and vegetable soup pureés in French cuisine;
• Swedish meatballs’ pop
• Used in dishes with lighter colors, simply because it doesn’t discolor food like black pepper

A FEW IMPROVISATIONAL RIFFS:

• Part of my Steakhouse Holy Trinity seasoning of salt, white pepper and onion powder
• Add to the finish of vegetables from ratatouille to sauteed green beans
• Dusting over steamed asparagus placed into my asparagus spear omelette brings a little pungent accent
• A pinch accompanying recipes that call for nutmeg adds a bit of sharpness to that aromatic where it is needed.

THE BACKSTORY

White pepper is one of the world’s oldest spices.In Southeast Asia, it arrived on the spice scene as early as twenty-one hundred years ago. It was a precious spice, so much so that it was used to pay ransom in the kidnappings of early fifth century Rome.  A Sanskrit word, pepper figuratively means “energy.” Also where the early twentieth century slang for energy, “pep” originates.

AKA

• Vitpeppar – Sweden
• Pepe bianco – Italy, Spanish-speaking countries
• 白胡椒 – China

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