# Stuff about the spicy spice, black pepper

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-about-the-spicy-spice-black-pepper/223709>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 9, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-about-the-spicy-spice-black-pepper/223709 "2004-01-09T20:21:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-about-the-spicy-spice-black-pepper/223709/1 "2004-01-09T20:21:56Z")

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It’s a berry, of all things!!

I’m a low-carber and was surprised to find out that pepper has what I think is a surprisingly high amount of carbs (4 grams per tbsp. compared with 5.8 per tbsp in the evilest of evil, white flour). Well that got me to thinking, what the heck is pepper, anyway?

[According to](http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Pipe_nig.html) [these sites](http://www.spizes.com/spiceonline/CategoryList/Peppercat.asp), pepper is the berry of a vine that can grow to 10 metres (33 feet) in height. What becomes black pepper is a berry that is typically harvested just before ripeness at either it’s green (unripened) or red (ripening) state.

Beakman & Jax [tell us](http://www.bonus.com/contour/beakman/http@@/www.beakman.bonus.com/beakman/pepper/pepper.html) that the blackness of black pepper is not part of the berry at all, but is a fungus called _Glomerella cingulata_ that grows on the pepper’s surface.

Green pepper is achieved by skipping the part of the processing that grows the fungus, while white pepper is the very same berry, only with the green skin stipped off.

But I still don’t know why it has so many carbs.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-about-the-spicy-spice-black-pepper/223709/2 "2004-01-09T21:18:00Z")

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Ahh pepper.  
MMMMMMMMMMM pepper.

In ancient times it was worth its weight in gold.

It was worth it.