306 COFFEE. 



and January. Then an interval of several months is allowed to 

 elapse before the next picking takes place. That which is de- 

 signed for black pepper is picked after the berries have attained a 

 good size, but while they are yet green. They are usually picked 

 in the cool of the evening, thrown upon a lattice-work of bamboo, 

 which is placed over a furnace, the heat and smoke from which 

 pass through ;the pepper and both dry and color it. (Both. the 

 leaf and fruit of the pepper plant also naturally turn black, if 

 dried in the sun, when picked green.) This process is usually 

 accomplished in one night, and the next day the stems are taken 

 off the lattice-work, placed upon mats, and the berries detached 

 from the stem by rubbing with the hands or treading with the 

 feet. They are then sifted, to remove the dust and stemsj and 

 the dried berries or kernels are packed in bags to await shipment. 

 To make " white pepper " the stems are allowed to remain 

 upon the vines until the berries are ripe, when they are of a red 

 color and have considerable pulp around the inner kernel or seed. 

 Immediately after picking they are thrown into shallow trenches 

 or ditches, containing water, where they are allowed to soak ten 

 or twelve days. By this time the pulp is much decayed, and the 

 berries are then taken out and put into a strong bag, into which a 

 coolie gets and treads vigorously with his feet to loosen the skin 

 and pulp. This mass is then turned out upon sieves, and the 

 seeds or kernels separated and put in the sun to dry. "When 

 dried the berries are of a grayish white color, but after being sold 

 they not unfrequeiitly undergo another bleaching by " chlorine," 

 which improves their appearance at the expense of quality. The 

 process by which white pepper is produced is much more tedious 

 and expensive than in making black pepper, and the product is 

 really not so good, the essential constituents of the spice being 

 more abundant in the outer parts of the fruit than in the seed. 

 Let any person take a sample of ground black pepper and ground 

 white pepper, and use the two in the same manner ; he will per- 

 ceive that the latter has a bitterish taste and lacks the rich and 

 spicy flavor of the former, and yet the demand for white pepper 

 has largely increased during the last quarter of a century, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the price has ranged from fifty to one 

 hundred per cent, higher than for the black. 



