Ceylon White Pepper

White pepper is an important product mainly used in food items where the dark particles are undesirable, such as salad dressings, soups, mayonnaise, light coloured sauces, etc. White pepper is prepared from fully ripe fruits by removing the outer pericarp before drying. White pepper is produced conventionally from ripe berries by the water steeping and retting technique. Though other techniques were tested, they never found acceptance with consumers. In the water steeping and retting technique ripe berries and berries that are about to ripen are harvested, threshed and heaped in tanks through which water is allowed to run for 7–10 days.
In Indonesia (which is the largest producer and exporter of white pepper) the pepper berries are tied in gunny bags and immersed in running water in streams or rivulets. During the process of water steeping the outer skin (pericarp) gets rotten and can be removed easily by rubbing and the deskinned fruits (seeds) are further washed in clean water and sun dried. Often the deskinned fruits (seeds) are kept immersed in bleaching powder solution for a day or two to give better colour to the product. The yield of white pepper will be around one quarter instead of one third recovery of dry black pepper.