Food - Drink
Most Of The World's Black Pepper Comes From This Country
By NATASHA BAILEY
Salt and black pepper might be the most famous seasoning combination in the world, though producing pepper requires more effort than salt does. Piper nigrum, or black peppercorns, are small fruits that are harvested while unripe, then processed and dried to make pepper, and one country is better at this process than any other.
Black pepper takes up 20% of the world’s spice trade, and the biggest pepper producer is Vietnam, which produces 34% of the total global output. As of May 2022, Vietnam has already produced and exported 99,540 tons of pepper to non-peppercorn-producing countries, and the nation exported about 260,000 tons in 2021.
The black peppercorn plant can only thrive in hot, humid, tropical climates, and originated on India’s Malabar Coast. Peppercorns have long been used for medicinal and culinary purposes, and in ancient Rome, pepper was so expensive that it cost half of a soldier's monthly salary per pound, yet it remained in incredibly high demand.
