How to Grow and Process Black Pepper
- 1). Order the plant online, when the plant arrives carefully unwrap plant. remove plastic and packing material. Water plant and put in area with light for two days to let plant settle from being shipped.
- 2). Repot the plant after two days by gentlely removing plant and putting into pot that fit's the roots. Place soil around plant. Juggle plant to get air out of soil. Do not put small plant into large pot. If pot is to large for roots it will invite root disease. When the pot gets full of roots then repot to a bigger pot.
- 3). Give black pepper plant a lot of light and partial shade. Fertilize once a week in summer. Plant will not grow or flower unless temperature is above 70 degrees. Flowers will appear when pepper plant is about three years old. It blooms in late summer and the fruit will ripen in December or January. The fruit forms on long spikes.
- 4). Pick the fruit on the black pepper plant when the fruit on the spike start to turn red. Take the fruit-peppercorns- off the spikes.
- 5). Boil the peppercorns about ten minutes. Make sure the water is boiling when you put in the peppercorns. The heat will rupture the walls and speed the drying process.
- 6). Dry peppercorns in dehydrator for three to five days. Check after three days to see if peppercorn are dry. If not dry put back on dehydrator. Check daily until peppercorns are dry. This produces the black peppercorn. Put peppercorn in a pepper mill and grind as needed.