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Le
Gourmet
White, black,
green, red or pink… take your pick!
Epicureans, consumers,
great chefs and gourmets can choose from five types of pepper on today's
food market, each with its own unique and distinct virtues and properties.
Ranked among the most widely used spices in international cuisine, pepper
is renowned for its distinctive aromas and scents that perfectly and
subtly heighten the flavour of dishes and sauces of all types.
A bit of history…
Pepper has been around for over 4,000 years. In the Middle Ages, pepper
was considered precious and worth its weight in gold. Indeed, its specific
composition endows it with several medicinal qualities (expectorant,
antiseptic, digestive, etc.). Nowadays, the king of spices claims more
than a quarter of the global market. It is produced in Indonesia, Brazil
and Malaysia, notably.
To
begin with, the corns of black pepper, despite what we may
think, are not the mature fruit of the pepper tree. Black pepper
has attained its full size, but is not necessarily ripe. It is,
in fact, the enzymes contained in the corns that induce darkening.
Black pepper is the preferred and most widelyused pepper in the
world.
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Also
found on the market is white pepper, which is the fully ripened
fruit. Once harvested, the corns are soaked until the skin can be
removed. Sun dried and whitened, white pepper is renowned for its
taste, delicate and not so bitter as that of black pepper. White
pepper is recommended for cream-based white sauces and as an addition
to dishes for last minute flavour adjustment. Remember that white
pepper is prized for its scent, both light and sharp .
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Green
pepper is the unripe fruit of the pepper tree. It is often used
in vinegars and brine. To enhance its flavour, green pepper can
be frozen and dehydrated. Green peppercorns are harvested at the
same time as the black variety but are not dried. Green pepper carries
a distinctively herb-like taste. Mainly used in occidental cuisine,
green pepper is added to mustards and preserves. Added to sauces,
boiled or fried meats, cream sauces and pasta, green pepper is a
real delight!
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Exotisme,
rareté, unicité, éveil, passion! Le poivre
rouge se trouve difficilement et possède un goût
davantage piquant et aromatique que ces homologues noir et vert.
En fait, on utilise ce poivre le plus fréquemment pour sa
couleur vive lors de présentations et de mises en place particulières
et raffinées.
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Exotic,
rare, unique, bracing, hot! Red pepper is harder to find
and has a taste that is sharper and more aromatic than its black
and green counterparts. This variety of pepper is in fact more often
used for its vivid colouring in special and refined presentations
and arrangements.
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| Helpful
Hints
Ground,
partially ground, cracked or whole?…
The great
chefs of international gastronomy strongly recommend using whole
grain pepper to be able to enjoy all its freshness, flavour and
essential oils longer. Ground pepper does not keep as well and
may develop a bitter taste. Freshly ground pepper thus remains
the best choice to fully benefit from all of pepper's properties.
For
better preservation
Pepper is
best kept in a hermetically closed container, stored in a cool
dry place, for a period of about one to three years following
the date of purchase. Ground pepper begins to lose freshness after
only four months. As for pepper in brine, it must be refrigerated
once opened and consumed in the following month; pepper preserved
in water must be refrigerated and used in the days immediately
following its purchase.
A wide variety of products
for all your needs
Després Laporte offers pepper
mills from such renowned manufacturers as Bibule, Peugeot, William
Bounds, Kyocera, Trudeau with an unbeatable quality-price ratio.
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