Chemical Properties
To obtain white pepper, the berries are allowed to ripen before harvesting and the outer shell is removed, leaving a
grayish-white kernel. Fully ripened pepper berries, yellow to red in color, are harvested to prepare white pepper. Berries are separated
from the stalk, placed into jute bags and soaked in fresh running water to remove the pericarp. This process of retting takes about two
weeks. Thereafter the berries are washed several times in rattan baskets to remove the stalks and the pericarp before sun-drying for
two to three days. For other details of description see Pepper, Black.
Composition
Coumaperine has been isolated from white pepper as a naturally occurring antioxidative agent. The sharp taste of
pepper is due to the presence of about 6 to 8% of the weak alkaloid piperine (C17H19NO3), which in substance is almost tasteless, but develops its sharp taste when in solution. White pepper seems to contain even more piperine than black. The sharp taste of the fresh
fruit is produced by the piperine being dissolved in the essential oil; old fruits taste less sharp owing to partial resinification of the
essential oil and consequent partial crystallization of piperine.
