Black peppercorns are harvested from the pepper plant (Piper nigrum), and is
without doubt one of the oldest and most widely used spices in the world.
After flowering, the fruit, which are more precisely called drupes, are
collected by hand and dried on mats in the sun until they reach a dark
purplish-black.
Note: The term "mesh" refers to the coarseness of ground pepper, which can range
from a fine shake to large granules. (The term literally refers to the size of
the holes in the mesh screen through which the spice passes while it is ground.)
The higher the number, the finer the pepper. Similarly, a mesh of 12 indicates a
grind between coarse and cracked.
