A Hot Subject: Pepper and Peppery 101

For officers only! Relevent history and facts about the growing, harvesting, fermentation, distillation and aging of Cane Spirits. Master this section and you master rum. Otherwise just masterbate...
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Capn Jimbo
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A Hot Subject: Pepper and Peppery 101

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Peppers and peppery 101...


Let's cut to the chase, shall we? If you drink any spirits at all you have experienced what many reporters call "pepper" or "peppery", mostly referring to the finish. This is common and assuming a well made spirit, a good thing. When Sue Sea and I have reported peppery finishes here's what you'll find:

1. The impressions of pepper tend to begin somewhere between the mid and late palate, and surely in the finish or aftertaste.

2. We have reported pepperiness in growing intensity beginning with "clove" (softer, gentler, sweet heat), "black pepper" (flavorful heat), "white pepper" (quick, fine prickly heat) and "jalapeno" (hot, Hot and HOT).

In truth and in cooking some might find this odd as good cooks will tell you that black pepper is actually stronger than white. Although I own a bunch of good cookbooks, far be it from me to disagree. In fact when I made this discovery I was initially tempted to actually find and correct our reviews, but fortunately that was not necessary and here's why...

White comes on faster than black, thus the impression of quick, prickly and mostly heat. Although black is stronger, it develops more slowly and your mouth accomodates. So? So we're gonna stick with our descriptors and their meaning.


A word to the anally retentive pepper lovers...

Have you ever spent extra $$$ to buy one of those fancy jars full of multi-colored peppercorns. They are easily more than double in cost and you might be wondering whether this visually interesting mix is worth the money? Hint: they're all invisible once they're in the grinder. But let's review em...

1. Black Pepper

Black pepper is a basic peppercorn with seed and skin that is still green and unripe when picked. They are quick cooked and left to dry in the sun, where the skin wrinkles and voila! You have the familiar wrinkly black peppercorn. Flavorful and peppery.

2. White Pepper

White pepper is the same South Asian peppercorn as what becomes the "black", except that it is not picked until fully ripe and red (not green). These red ripe corns are soaked for say a week, at which point the skin is now nice and loose and is removed. Having lost the skin, the white peppercorn is less flavorful, but the heat comes on more quickly. The main use of white by cooks in light sauces, soups etc., so as not to be as visual to the customer. Earthy aroma, hot taste.

3. Green Pepper

As you may have guessed the green peppercorn - like the black - is picked early but much earlier and thus unripe and very green. The only reason they don't go black is that the green color is preserved with sulfur dioxide or other means, and they are dried for longevity. Their taste is also different than the black and has been described as fresher, lighter and brighter. A staple in Thai, Creole and French cooking. Think green sauce.

4. Red/Orange Pepper

As you hot students may have already guessed, these - like so-called white pepper - are picked ripe and red, but are not soaked and get to keep the red skin. The red skin is kept red just like the green above, and using the same methods. I have no idea what the flavor differences are, but it's fair to assume that the ripe skin must surely add more flavor than the green while still retaining the brighter aspects of the green.

5. Pink Pepper

All of the earlier peppers tend to originate in South Asia, while the pink is a different plant entirely and found more in South America, especially Peru and Brazil. They are a different species than the Asian.


Bottom Line...

There is no bottom line. As most lovers of spirits become more experienced the sensation of a well balanced pepper is very pleasant. In addition to balance, consistency and smooth development, fine spirits exhibit balance. This is also true in spades for all manner of culinary arts. So what is balance?

For example sweetness without balance can be cloying. Focused heat without balance can be disturbing in a different way. Imagine eating a spoonful of sugar, or a raw hot pepper. This can be disturbing (with the exception of the bitter-palated Artic Wonder on one paw or lovers of Tex/Mex hot cuisine on the other). But put them together in balanced fashion?

Almost everyone will be pleased. Think General Tso's Chicken. Sweet and heat is common in Asian foods and in Barbecue. So in the future when you are experiencing pepperiness do reflect on its intensity and appearance - slow, low, early and mild, or hot, fast, growing and glowing. Or any combination thereof.
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
sleepy
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Post by sleepy »

Just remember - the Asian cooking that we love would be far different without western chiles! Gratefully, we don't need to parse ancho from guajillo in our rum flavors!

Great review. In cooking, I use white pepper when I want a sparkle of spice - black when I want some persistence of bite (or any of my large collection of hot sauces - all chile-based) I think that pretty well works for spirits reviews - early sparkle = white, continuing burn = black. <shrug>
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

It's fascinating, is it not?


The big comparison is generally between white and black pepper, no doubt due to these are the most common versions. Both are the same berry, simply processed differently. While few disagree about the processes used, there are a broad variety of opinions on how each tastes. For example:

1. People disagree about which is stronger (by which we can assume they mean more "peppery"). Actually the black - which is the whole berry, including skin - is perhaps the most pungent and "strong". But please do differentiate "strong" from "hot".

2. OTOH, white - though less flavorful - is definitely hotter, earlier. It is not nearly as pungent as black, but its aroma is earthy described by some cooks as "barnyard".

3. The peppercorn of choice in the US is the black, while - are you sitting down? - in Europe it's white pepper by a margin of ten to one! In the US it's just the opposite.

4. Although you can cook with either, black is the one you sprinkle on your prepared food, while white is more likely to be used during cooking.

5. Like rum in the Caribbean, pepper has historically been a key product and part of the culture where it is grown. Also like rum, the difference between the best and the worst is tremendous. Pepper was the king of spices, not least because of its small size and potency. Like rums wars were fought over pepper.

6. Pepper is experienced differently by different people. Just like the few supertasters like the Frozen Wonder who tend to find "bitterness" where others do not, there are those who are not bothered by what most of us would find as intense and burning heat. About 20% of the population are not affected by pepper heat, close to the same percentage who are cursed with bittermouth sensitivity like the Wolfboy.

7. A better way to consider the white/black difference is that the white is the seed, while the black includes the seed and "fruit".

8. Those who like Shiraz wine may be aware that some of these wines have an unusual peppery taste. Vintners are aware of this, but until recently couldn't predict which vintages would have this quality. Then some Australian scientists found the answer by finding a common component in both certain Shiraz wines and white pepper:

Rotundone. This component is so powerful that it can be detected in concentrations of only a few parts per million. It appears in white pepper and yes - certain Shiraz wines.


Bottom Line...


Like rum, coffee, cheese or chocolate there are pepper freaks who really get into it. Some even have "pepper tastings"! The difference between quality and commercial pepper is like night and day...

Or black and white pepper.




*******
Good Link:
http://pepper-passion.com/peppercorn-varieties
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