(For white pepper, remove the red husk before drying.) Store in an airtight container and grind when ready to use.

It comes from the peppercorn fruit of the black pepper plant (Piper nigrum), which is native to India's Malabar Coast. People in India have used black pepper to flavor food since at least 2000 BC.

If pollen from a hot pepper fertilizes the flower of a sweet pepper, all the hot pepper genes from the father plant go into ...