Black Pepper Plant - Piper nigrum - Grow Indoors or Out - 4" Pot

The Black Pepper of commerce, this South Asian tropical vine produces chains of small round fruit. By selecting the time of harvest and the method of processing, all four types of peppercorns (black, white, green and red) can be harvested from the same plant. Plants require high temperature and optimum light for fruiting. 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) and white pepper (unripe fruit seeds). Black pepper is native to south India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Currently Vietnam is the world's largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing 34% of the world's Piper nigrum crop as of 2008. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice. It is one of the most common spices added to European cuisine and its descendants. It is ubiquitous in the modern world, often paired with salt.