288 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
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. 
A planter writing in the Indisdie 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 jilamentosa). 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 
