What Is Black Pepper Coarse Grind

Black Pepper Coarse Grind is also called coarse ground pepper or, simply, coarse pepper.

This is our most popular ground pepper! The large, coarse grind is a +20 mesh, so it’s nice and toothy and provides terrific texture to a dish as well as flavor. Our Black Pepper Coarse Grind has a volatile oil content that ranges between 1% and 2.5% by weight, which fuels the spicy kick and complex flavors in this black pepper.

What Does Black Pepper Coarse Grind Taste Like

Black Pepper Coarse Grind has an assertive flavor —sharp, muscular, and warm, shaped by pine and earth. It’s got a woodsy aroma that interweaves with citrus and floral top notes. There’s a spiky, pleasantly bitter heat that black pepper delivers that’s driven by the chemical compound piperine, a volatile oil present in both the seeds and external hull. 

Is Table Grind Black Pepper The Same As Black Pepper Coarse Grind

Black Pepper Coarse Grind is not the same as Table Grind Black Pepper. Pepper that’s considered “table grind” is generally very fine; it’s the light, powdery grind that can fit through the small holes at the top of a tabletop shaker.

Can You Grind Coarse Black Pepper 

Any size pepper can be ground into smaller particles, so yes, of course, you can grind coarse pepper. Though it might be easier to grind in a mechanical, coffee-type grinder than in a pepper mill.

How To Use Black Pepper Coarse Grind

Use Black Pepper Coarse Grind anywhere you want the great, piney warmth of black pepper, as well as a bit of crunch. Spice up the dressing for a Grilled Portobello and Radicchio Salad with a healthy spoonful of Black Pepper, Coarse Grind. Use to add texture and a touch of heat to smooth Red Miso Shrimp Bisque. Toss into a Roasted Poblano Potato Salad with Tuna Steak. Stir into Peach Salsa for a little peppery pop and a bit of crunchy contrast. Make Herb Roasted Potatoes with Black Pepper Coarse Grind and enjoy its bold pungency against the steamy mildness of the potatoes.

What Can I Substitute for Black Pepper Coarse Grind

You can use any black pepper as a substitute for Black Pepper Coarse Grind, but be aware there will be a difference in taste and texture. Cracked Black Pepper will have even more texture and retain a higher concentration of volatile oils than the coarse grind, while the fine, table grind discussed earlier will be mellower and less sharp.

The History of Black Pepper

Black peppercorns are indigenous to the Malabar region of India, a narrow area on the western edge of the subcontinent, facing the Arabian Sea. It is produced from a flowering vine of the Piper nigrum plant and first emerged in the Miocene Epoch, evolving along with the intensification of Indian monsoons approximately 9 million years ago¹. An ancient treatise on Ayurvedic medicine, the Materia Medica of Ayurveda, claims that black pepper was being put to medicinal use as long ago as 6000 BC²; by 2000 BC black pepper was being actively farmed across the Indian subcontinent³.

Trade for black pepper has been traced to ancient Egypt, circa 1300-1200 BC. It was an important ingredient for mummification; the pharoah Ramses II (1303-1213 BC) was entombed with black pepper nestled in his nose⁴. It had made its way to China by the time of the Han Dynasty⁵, circa 202 BC-220 AD. After Imperial Rome gained control of Egypt in 30 AD, they accessed much of Egypt’s ability to make trade through their Red Sea trading route⁶ and created a craze for black pepper throughout the Empire. Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder did not understand black pepper’s appeal; in his book Natural History he says that “…pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India!⁷”

Early spice traders worked hard to protect their sources and perpetuated tall tales about the sources of their goods. Philostratus, a second-century teacher of rhetoric and philosophy, wrote a biography of Apollonius, a first-century charismatic teacher. He recalled Apollonius’s story that was told to him while traveling in India of how apes there were trained to harvest pepper. Pepper, he said, grew on trees rooted in ravines that were too steep for human access, so they taught the apes to gather pepper twigs⁸. Isidore of Seville, a 7th-century bishop in Spain, wrote a massive compilation of facts about the natural world, including what he’d learned about the source of black pepper. He said that serpents lived in and around pepper groves, protecting the trees from anyone that wanted to steal its fruit. To collect the pepper, merchants had to light fires and drive away the snakes, which also turned the skins of peppercorns black and gave black pepper its characteristic heat⁹. 

There was tight control of the pepper trade between West Asian and Venetian traders until 1498, when  Vasco da Gama successfully navigated around the Cape of Good Hope and headed straight for India. He not only circumvented the established traders routes, but also upended global economy and helped Portugal become the wealthiest port in all of Europe, toppling Venice and Genoa in the process¹⁰. Portugal’s success was intense, but short-lived. Within 100 years control of the pepper trade cycled from Portugal to the Dutch, and by 1800, the British had wrested control of black pepper from all their opponents and claimed it for their own¹¹. This arrangement also came to an end fairly quickly; the first American ship looking to export pepper to the states and bypass English merchants and lingering post-war resentment made port in Sumatra in 1801. John Crowninshield embarked on a campaign of patience and fair payment for services—in contrast to the way the British treated the locals—and enticed the pepper farmers to put their pepper in his holds before they fulfilled their contracts elsewhere¹². Crowninshield’s efforts opened the door to more American ships in Sumatran ports, and more farmers looking to grow pepper to meet the increasing demand. The flood of pepper on the markets caused global prices to drop, and allowed pepper to become the ubiquitous table top spice we have today. 

Cultivation

Despite the ancients’ ideas that the pepper plant is a tree, it is in actuality a climbing evergreen vine, though it can use trees as it support as it climbs. Most commercial black pepper is propagated by cuttings and not by seed, since seed germinated vines will take 3 months of growth before they can be transplanted to the main field¹³. It does well in several different kinds of soil so long as it’s well-drained and semi-acidic, with a pH of 4.5-6.0. It ultimately prefers soil that’s never been cultivated and has been enriched with organic material like humus¹⁴.

Black pepper is a tropical plant that thrives in warm temperatures and high humidity. It does best in an area that receives between 150-250 cm—or, between 6-8 feet—of rainfall annually¹⁵. For perspective, New York City receives just about 4 feet of precipitation per year¹⁶. Black pepper can tolerate a wide range of temperatures, with a low end of 50°F; high-end temperatures can go over 100°F though they should be in partial shade to protect them from direct sun¹⁷.

Give these plants room to grow. They should be planted 10-12 feet apart, which gives you ample space to account for the plant and the pole on which it will climb, and it can grow to a height of 30 feet. Three cuttings get planted in the same hole, with one fully in the ground to help the plant strike roots¹⁸. New plantings, in particular, should be covered with some shade, and humus should be supplemented as necessary, especially as the end of monsoon season approaches. Vines should start to produce in their third or fourth year, and it takes between 6-8 months for pepper berries to ripen sufficiently to be picked¹⁹. 

Vines will produce long spikes or clusters from which the berries develop, and there can be anywhere from 50-150 berries per cluster. Harvesting can occur when just one berry in a cluster ripens to a deep red²⁰. The berries are boiled in hot water for just one minute and spread out over a large drying mat to air dry for 7-10 days²¹. During the drying process, the berry shrivels and wrinkles, darkening from green to the familiar black peppercorn with which we are familiar²². Most black pepper is still sun-dried since sunlight facilitates the darkening of the hull, but there are solar and wood-fired dryers that can be used to hasten along the drying process, particularly if the weather is wet or humid and not amenable to leaving the peppercorns in the sun²³. 

It usually takes a pepper vine 7-8 years to reach their full productive capacity, and they can successfully produce pepper berries for 20-25 years. One hectare, or about 2.5 acres, of mature 7-8 year old pepper vines can produce between 3/4 and one ton of black pepper per year²⁴.

Where is Our Black Pepper Coarse Grind From

Our black pepper is sourced from India, Indonesia, or Vietnam, depending on the time of year.

Hungry for more information?

Spice Cabinet 101: Peppercorns
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References

1. Padma, T. V. (2019, June 20). When and from where did black pepper come to India? Mongabay. Retrieved April 26, 2022.

2. Majeed, M., & Prakash, L. (2000). The medicinal uses of pepper. International Pepper News, XXV(1), 23–31. Retrieved April 26, 2022.

3, 10. Minwalla, S. (2020, September 16). A short history of black pepper. A short history of black pepper - The Hindu BusinessLine. Retrieved April 26, 2022.

4. Kumar, K. P. (2016, May 13). Of Kerala, Egypt, and the spice link. The Hindu. Retrieved April 26, 2022.

5. Hancock, J. (n.d.). Pepper. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

6. Cobb, M. (2018). Black pepper consumption in the Roman empire. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 61(4), 519–559. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

7. Bostock, J., & Riley, H. T. (Eds.). (n.d.). Pliny the Elder, the natural history, book 12, chapter 14. Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

8. Philostratus. (n.d.). Life of Apollonius 3.1-5. Livius.org Articles on Ancient History. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

<9. Barney, S. A., Lewis, W. J., Beach, J. A., & Berghof, O. (Eds.). (2006). The etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Cambridge University Press.

10. IPC Staff. (n.d.). History of pepper. International Pepper Community - History of Pepper. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

11. Cornillez, L. M. M. (2017, October). Spice trade in India. Postcolonial Studies. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

12. Lohman, S. (2017). Eight flavors: The untold story of American cuisine. Simon & Schuster.

13, 17, 18, 20. AgriFarming Editors. (n.d.). Black Pepper Farming Information Guide. Retrieved April 27, 2022, from

14, 19, 24. IndiaAgroNet Editors. (n.d.). SPICES & CONDIMENTS : Black Pepper Cultivation. IndiaAgroNet. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

15, 21. Kerala Spices Board. (n.d.). Horticulture - Spice Crops - Pepper. TNAU Agritech Portal - Horticulture . Retrieved April 27, 2022.

16. Climate Data Editors. (n.d.). New York City. Climate-Data.Org. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

22. Encyclopedia Brittanica Editors. (n.d.). Black pepper. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

23. Azam Ali, S. (2007, March). Pepper Processing. UN Climate Technology Centre & Network. Retrieved April 28, 2022.