Black Pepper

Scientific Name : Piper nigrum Common Name : Black Pepper Local Name : Black Pepper Besides the famous Araku coffee we also nurture the black pepper. Pepper is the perfect companion to shade grown coffee and has the same dappled sunlight needs as Arabica coffee. It thrives using coffee shade trees as support and provides a welcome additional income Araku pepper is certified organic along with its companion Arabica coffee. The bio-inoculants used to enhance the quality of soil create a premium high altitude, quality pepper. Black pepper is native to south Asia & south east Asia, and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000BCE. While number of classical historical resources mention the important source was India, particularly the Malabar Coast, in what is now the state of Kerela, famous for exporting various spices. The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivate for its fruit known as Peppercorn which is usually dried and used as spice and for seasoning, growing up to 4 m (13 ft) in height supporting trees, poles or trellises. Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well drained and rich in organic matter. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. A single stem bears 20-30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red and before the fruit is fully mature and is still hard, if allowed to ripen completely, the fruit lose pungency and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped off the spikes