288 SPICES 



CHA?. 



before spreading out to dry, as it hastens the eventual 

 drying. It is usual among the Chinese to put the 

 spikes into a wire skillet and plunge it for a few minutes 

 in boiling water. This renders the skin tougher and 

 gives the pepper a better colour. As the pepper dries 

 it becomes quite black, and is then rubbed by hand to 

 separate the stalks, which are removed by winnowing. 



j-A planter writing in the Indische Mercuur, No. 40, 

 1903, states that if pepper is dried in ordinary drying- 

 rooms there is a risk of getting the fruit spoiled by 

 damp, or the seeds wrinkled and reddish. To avoid 

 this he recommends a Huyser drier, beneath the per- 

 forated plates of which fires are lit as is done in drying 

 tobacco. The pepper is thus fumigated as well as dried, 

 and the results are said to be astonishing. A simpler 

 method is generally used in Java. A smoke-room is 

 made square, with walls 5 or 6 ft. high, and about 1 ft. 

 from the top is made a platform of split stems of the 

 Nibong palm (Oncosperma filamentosa}. This palm 

 has a stem 4 to 6 in. through, and is split into slats 

 about 1^ or 2 in. wide. The slats are laid together in 

 the form of a floor, close enough to prevent the pepper 

 from falling through, but allowing the smoke to pass. 

 At one end of the smoke-house is a fireplace, where 

 damp wood is burnt in order to produce a heavy smoke, 

 which is conducted by a pipe beneath the floor or shelf 

 on which the pepper lies. An iron pan, known locally 

 as a " Kwali," is so arranged beneath the shelf that the 

 smoke striking against it rises and is spread over the 

 smoke-room. 



Other modifications of the smoke-room can be used 

 according to convenience, the object being to treat the 

 pepper with hot, but not excessively hot, thick smoke. 

 In dealing with pepper in large quantities, especially in 

 wet weather, it is essential to dry it with fire heat. 

 Pepper is very liable to injury from mould, and can 

 never be turned out in first-class condition unless it is 

 thoroughly and rapidly dried. The use of boiling water, 

 as described, increases the rapidity of drying, for the 



