Organic Green Peppercorns Standard Jar 25g Steenbergs details and description

Steenbergs organic green peppercorns are a dried fresh peppercorn.  Steenbergs organic green peppercorns are fully-sized corns that have yet to ripen and are the closest you will find to the flavour of freshly picked green berries straight from the vine.  Steenbergs organic green peppercorns have a dark olive green colour and a wrinkled appearance similar to black peppercorns but full of that characteristic green pepper flavour. Organic green peppercorns have a light aroma and a young, fresh pungency with plenty of bite.

Peppercorns are the fruit of a tropical, woody climbing vine, Piper nigrum, which can reach up to 10m in height (33ft).  However, pepper vines need a host tree to grow up, with for example areca nut, eucalyptus or palm trees used or in Malaysia pepper vines are grown up poles or trellises.  The pepper vine has dark-green oval leaves that vary in size depending on the cultivar grown, but thy average at about 18cm long (7 inches) and 12cm (5 inches) wide.  Little flowers hang down in catkins of 3-15cm in length (1-6 inches) within the dense leafy foliage.  From these, the peppercorn fruits grow on densely packed spikes of 5-15cm in length (2-6 inches), containing up to 50 individual berries.  These pepper fruits start out an intense green then ripen to a yellow colour before turning a reddish-pink colour when fully ripe.  for more on pepper, check out Wikipedia.

However, most pepper fruits are harvested when still green and processed to make green, black and white peppercorns.  For green peppercorns, the berries are picked when they have grown to full size but have not yet started to ripen.  They are then immediately processed to prevent natural enzymatic reactions that would turn the green berry dark.  To achieve this, they are either immersed and pickled in brine, or plunged into boiling water for 15 minutes to denature the enzymes and fix the colour, after which they are dried in the sun, shrivelling up like a black peppercorn.  Alternatively, they can be freeze dried to retain their bright green colour and their rounded shape.

Green peppercorns are more vivacious in character than the robust and oily flavour of black peppercorns.  Their flavour works well in white sauces for poultry and red meats, while green pepper is a good flavour for use in pates and terrines, as they are against the richness of duck, game and pork.  Classic examples of using green peppercorns are Steak in a Green Pepper Sauce or a Thai green curry.  For more ideas try Allrecipes or the BBC websites.

Organic green pepper is part of Steenbergs UK range of over 400 organic herbs, spices and seasonings and organic baking flavours.  These are available through this website, on Amazon or through many of Steenbergs' retail customers; for information on your local stockist, you can look at the Where to See Us section of the website, call us on 01765 640 088 or email to enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.

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