Black pepper (Piper nigrum), or peppercorn, is the fruit from a tropical vine. It has been grown in India and traded for thousands of years. Black pepper was once so valuable it was used as a currency. Even today, black pepper accounts for around a fifth of the value of the international spice trade. The vine’s natural habitat is rainforest understory and the plants are grown up leguminous trees to fertilize the soil. Black pepper is processed on farms by briefly boiling then drying the fruit. To be sold as green peppercorns fruit are harvested when very underripe. White pepper is processed by retting – soaking mature black pepper to remove the outer skin.

Try this black pepper candle activity to fill your home with a warm and spicy scent this Christmas.