Freshly Ground Pepper Has Richer, Fuller Flavor

Don’t tell Bill and Danny Brugger that pepper is pepper and that it all tastes pretty much the same.

The brothers will launch into a detailed and passionate discussion of organic versus conventional growing methods, hand versus machine harvesting, and irradiated versus natural pepper. They’ll talk about the importance of microclimates, the proper degree of ripeness for pepper picking, and the benefits of organic farming.

The Brugger brothers deal in Talamanca pepper from Costa Rica. One taste made me a believer. Here’s a peppercorn that’s not just hot, but bursting with complex flavors. Its rich, earthy aroma precedes an intense, almost fruity taste. Its peppery sting hits you both at the tip of your tongue and in the back of your throat, igniting your taste buds like a Fourth of July sky.

Talamanca peppercorns (Piper nigrum) even look different than most: They’re bigger, darker and are so fresh and moist that you can crumble them between your fingers.

Talamanca peppercorns are the brainchild of one Chris Whitman, an American expatriate who grows them on an organic farm in a rain forest in southeast Costa Rica. His farm lies about 40 miles north of the Panama border in an area that is fast becoming the organic farming capital of Central America.

Whitman’s peppercorns are picked by hand, not when small and green as is often done, but when larger, riper and sweeter. In keeping with his organic farming methods, he prefers sun drying to kiln drying and shuns traditional preserving agents, such as irradiation and ethylene oxide.

Peppercorns are the fruit of a perennial climbing shrub native to India and now grown throughout the tropics. They grow in spike-like clusters, three to six inches long. What is surprising is that black, white and green peppercorns all come from the same plant.

Black pepper is made by drying green (unripe) berries until their skins become dark and wrinkled. White pepper is harvested when the berries are ripe and red. The peppercorns are soaked in water to soften the skin and flesh, which are rubbed off, leaving the white (actually beige-colored) seed in the center. Black peppercorns have a stronger pepper flavor than white, while the white seems to taste hotter.

If you’re like me, you probably grew up on pre-ground pepper (peppercorn grinders didn’t become standard kitchen equipment until the late 1970s). Freshly grinding whole peppercorns definitely produces a richer, fuller flavor. I go through so much pepper in my cooking that I grind it weekly in a coffee grinder and keep it in a bowl by the stove.

One of my favorite forms of pepper is cracked peppercorns, known in French as mignonettes (literally “little darlings”). To make cracked pepper, wrap whole peppercorns in a dish towel and crush them with a heavy object, such as the edge of a cast-iron skillet. (A mortar and pestle works well, too.) Mignonettes are the traditional pepper for making steak au poivre and they’re great sprinkled on oysters, pasta and breads.

Black pepper has a natural affinity with meats and poultry. White pepper is traditionally used in cream, butter and egg sauces, where flecks of black pepper would be aesthetically unappealing. While most of us don’t think of pepper as a dessert ingredient, many sweets benefit from its presence, including strawberries, poached pears and biscotti.

Talamanca peppercorns can be ordered from the Brugger Brothers by mail by calling (800) 949-2264. A 4-ounce package costs $6.75, plus $3.50 for shipping and handling.

The following recipe is a great way to show off the singular flavor of Talamanca peppercorns, although any freshly ground pepper will do.

Singapore Black Pepper Prawns

Black pepper prawns and black pepper crabs are national dishes of Singapore. I’ve given a range of black pepper to suit different tolerances of heat.

2 tablespoons chicken stock or water

2 tablespoons oyster sauce (see note)< 2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine (mirin; see note)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

3 green onions, white part minced, green part finely chopped

2 teaspoons to 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black peppercorns

1 sweet red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Combine stock, oyster and soy sauces, rice wine, sugar and cornstarch in small bowl and stir to mix.

Just before serving, heat wok to smoking. Swirl in oil. Add garlic, ginger, whites of green onions and ground peppercorns. Stir-fry over high heat until fragrant but not brown, about 1 minute. Add sweet red pepper and shrimp and stir-fry until almost cooked, about 1 minute.

Stir ingredients for sauce to redissolve sugar and cornstarch and stir into shrimp mixture. Bring to boil. Simmer until shrimp are done, about 1 minute. Correct seasonings, adding more pepper if necessary. Dish should be highly seasoned. Sprinkle with green part of onion and serve at once.

Yield: 2 to 3 servings.

Note: Oyster sauce and rice wine are available in Asian markets and some supermarkets.