White Pepper

Decorticated 600–620 g/l — heat without dark specks

White pepper is black pepper with its skin taken off. The berries are harvested riper, soaked to loosen the outer pericarp, then decorticated and dried, leaving the pale inner corn. Removing the skin removes much of the volatile oil that gives black pepper its fragrance, while the piperine that carries the heat sits mostly in the corn and remains — so white pepper is sharper and less aromatic, with a distinctive earthy note the soaking process contributes. Bulk density runs 600–620 g/l, higher than black pepper because the corn is denser, with moisture ≤ 13%, piperine 4–6% and extraneous matter ≤ 0.5%. Muntok from Indonesia and Vietnamese white are the principal traded origins.

The reason to buy white rather than black is almost always visual. In a white or pale sauce, a cream soup, a light-coloured processed food or a classical French or Chinese preparation, black specks read as contamination to the customer even though they are simply pepper — white pepper delivers the heat without them. That is a real functional requirement, not a preference, and it is why food manufacturers keep both on the ingredient list. Where it is the wrong choice is anywhere aroma is wanted: white pepper cannot substitute for a fresh-ground black over a steak, and a formulation built on volatile oil should stay on black. It also costs more, because decortication is a processing step with a yield loss. CBIL supplies against SGS or Intertek certification of bulk density, moisture, piperine, extraneous matter and microbiology, in 25 kg bags, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.