Why Is White Pepper Used In Thailand

[Yknot]

Why is a white pepper shaker on the table instead of a black pepper shaker? Is white pepper the norm in the UK or Europe? Is black pepper for tax, or some other reason, more expensive here? Is it considered "better"?

Ok, I can live with it, but I need to know why.

[loong]

White pepper is cheaper

[Jingthing]

Hmmm. In my experience when you go to a European restaurant and they have a pepper grinder, there are black peppercorns in there. Also fresh black peppercorns are widely used in Thai cooking. I know what you mean about the ground white pepper being in the shaker bottles here.

[Pakeha]

Hmmm. In my experience when you go to a European restaurant and they have a pepper grinder, there are black peppercorns in there. Also fresh black peppercorns are widely used in Thai cooking. I know what you mean about the ground white pepper being in the shaker bottles here.

Also green peppercorns (i.e. fresh) seem quite common, at least in my partners cooking. Anything spicy!!

To the OP - maybe white pepper adds to the heat without really having any flavour of its own, whilst black pepper does have a distinct flavour.

dam_n! Now I have to know too .

[Jingthing]

Also green peppercorns (i.e. fresh) seem quite common, at least in my partners cooking. Anything spicy!!

OK, that's what I meant is used in Thai cooking widely (I use it too). I think those green peppercorns are actually the FRESH form of black pepper.

This is black pepper, when it is green:

Before they had chilies here (which came from the Americas) these peppers were the only thing used in Thai cooking to hot things up.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Jingthing

[NanaFoods]

White pepper is basically black pepper with the skin removed via a special process.

From Wikipedia:

Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the fruit, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the fruit around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer. Once dried, the fruits are called black peppercorns.

White pepper consists of the seed only, with the skin of the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by process known as retting, where fully ripe berries are soaked in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the fruit softens and decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Alternative processes are used for removing the outer fruit from the seed, including decortication, the removal of the outer layer from black pepper from berries through mechanical, chemical or biological methods.^[4]

Seems Thais use all types of pepper in various ways depending on how strong a flavor they are after, which depends on the dish. White pepper may be served as a condiment on Thai tables due its mild/neutral flavor, yet is still somewhat piquant.

In the West, white pepper is quite commonly used in the making of deli meats, sausages, hotdogs, etc. But we tend to serve black pepper as a condiment. A fascinating contrast with Thai culture, indeed.

[mmcsusnret]

Good explaination. Also the skin has a bitter taste to it that is present in green and black pepper. One of the main reasons white is used in a lot of Oriental cooking is the appearance, especially in dishes with light or neutral or white sauces. The black shows up but the white tends to disappear. The black "specks" make some people wonder what they are. This is a Chinese thing.

You may also notice that the peppercorns here are a powder vice a ground style which allows mor subtle blending of the flavors.

[Yknot]

Westerners, selling an English or American breakfast, put a shaker of powered white pepper on the table instead of ground black pepper. I just can't explain it. There must be some reason. Eggs need ground black pepper.

[Jingthing]

Westerners, selling an English or American breakfast, put a shaker of powered white pepper on the table instead of ground black pepper. I just can't explain it. There must be some reason. Eggs need ground black pepper.

The better farang food joints will have at least one pepper grinder to grind black peppercorns (on request). I can't explain the white pepper on the table either. It is also often old and/or ruined by humidity.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Jingthing

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

White pepper has a more pronounced flavor than black pepper, and is frequently used in Chinese cooking. The Thais think white pepper has a cleaner taste than black pepper. White pepper is popular for everyday use in Europe and Scotland. Black pepper is more common in the USA, England, and Wales. White pepper is used in the west when you don't want black specks (mashed potatoes, white sauces, etc.).

Pepper: phrik thai or prik tai

Pepper comes from several species of a vining tropical plant (Piper nigrum), the spice being the fruit, called peppercorns. The plants are grown primarily in the warmer tropical zones of Thailand , and are cultivated on vertical poles, forming a living column of pepper vine which can be as high as 7 to 8 feet, and as wide as 3 to 4 feet. The harvest is at the end of the hot season, meaning late spring to early summer. Black pepper is the dried, unripe berry, consisting of the wrinkled fruit and the seed within. White pepper starts out the same as the black, but is allowed to ripen more fully on the vine. The outer shell (the fruit) is then removed by soaking the berries in water until it falls off, or they are held under flowing spring water, which yields a whiter, cleaner, more superior white peppercorn; white peppercorn is the seed only. Thai white peppercorns are spicier than those found in the West.

[cathyy]

I asked a Thai friend this question. He said the flavor of black pepper is too harsh. I am not kidding.

[tominchaam]

I asked a Thai friend this question. He said the flavor of black pepper is too harsh. I am not kidding.

So it has nothing to do with making the Thai people look whiter? Sorry - but I am kidding this cool and nice Sunday morning.

[thaigerd]

Some dishes require white other dishes require black pepper.

I like to use freshly grounded black pepper even it's a 'no-no' in some old recipes we have learned.

Gerd

[chickencurry]

We go to a French-Thai eatery and if you order a Thai curry pet-pet, they put tons of black pepper in it . It makes for quite an interesting curry but nothing like a Thai tasting curry. A bit of fusion cooking I guess.

[Jingthing]

We go to a French-Thai eatery and if you order a Thai curry pet-pet, they put tons of black pepper in it . It makes for quite an interesting curry but nothing like a Thai tasting curry. A bit of fusion cooking I guess.

I find this story a bit odd. There are many traditional Thai dishes that use black pepper, either the fresh green peppercorn or a stir fry in a thick paste of very black pepper. Before chilies came to Thailand, and historically that wasn't that long ago, the heating spice was black pepper. That is why there are still dishes that use it. You could say they are even "more" Thai than the "modern" dishes using chilies which came from the Americas.

It is true that you usually find WHITE pepper in shaker bottles at European restaurants in Thailand. Maybe they think it is more polite. I am not surprised that a Thai would say that bottled or freshly ground black pepper is too harsh. That's not the normal Thai way of eating black pepper. My favorite comment from a Thai was that they found Mexican food too spicy.

Prawns in Black Pepper Sauce (Thai dish)

Edited March 15, 2009 by Jingthing

[Pakeha]

We go to a French-Thai eatery and if you order a Thai curry pet-pet, they put tons of black pepper in it . It makes for quite an interesting curry but nothing like a Thai tasting curry. A bit of fusion cooking I guess.

I find this story a bit odd. There are many traditional Thai dishes that use black pepper, either the fresh green peppercorn or a stir fry in a thick paste of very black pepper. Before chilies came to Thailand, and historically that wasn't that long ago, the heating spice was black pepper. That is why there are still dishes that use it. You could say they are even "more" Thai than the "modern" dishes using chilies which came from the Americas.

It is true that you usually find WHITE pepper in shaker bottles at European restaurants in Thailand. Maybe they think it is more polite. I am not surprised that a Thai would say that bottled or freshly ground black pepper is too harsh. That's not the normal Thai way of eating black pepper. My favorite comment from a Thai was that they found Mexican food too spicy.

Prawns in Black Pepper Sauce (Thai dish)

Interesting JT. But come on just admit it.... tominchaam is probabl right