Green Peppercorns: How They’re Made, How They Taste and How to Use Them

Green peppercorns are the unripe berries of Piper nigrum, the same vine that gives black and white pepper.¹ What makes them green is how they are handled after picking: they are dried quickly under controlled conditions, or preserved in brine, so the skin never darkens.¹² They taste fresher and more herbal than black pepper, and in brine they are soft enough to crush with a fork. This page covers how they are made, what the forms are, how they taste, how to use them, and what the standards and safety rules say.

At a glance

One vine, three colors

The Codex standard defines all three by processing:¹

• Black pepper comes from dried berries with the outer layer (pericarp) unbroken. AramcoWorld, quoting spice author Ian Hemphill, explains that when green peppercorns are dried in the sun, a naturally occurring enzyme in the skin turns them black.⁷
• White pepper comes from dried berries with the pericarp removed.¹
• Green pepper comes from green berries with the moisture removed under controlled conditions.¹

McCormick Science Institute sums it up: depending on harvest time and processing, peppercorns can be black, white, green or red.⁶ So green peppercorns are not a separate plant or variety, and the difference from black pepper lies mostly in what happens after harvest. Timing matters too: India’s food-processing institute NIFTEM gives harvest stages for each green product, from about 3 months for canned green pepper to 10–15 days before full maturity for dehydrated green pepper.⁴ PROSEA calls preserved immature green pepper a use “of secondary importance” next to black pepper.⁸

How green peppercorns are made

Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) and NIFTEM describe several processes. The details differ by source, so both are shown where they overlap:

KAU adds that berries for green pepper products are taken straight from the vine and processed within 24 hours.² Fresh green peppercorns on the stem are used in Thai cooking (see below).

Flavor

Brined green peppercorns taste bright, green and gently hot, with a soft bite and a salty, slightly sour edge from the brine. Dried ones are more concentrated and closer to black pepper. That description is ours. The Codex standard requires green pepper to have a pungent odor and flavor characteristic of green pepper, free from mustiness and bitterness.¹ Suwanee, a cook who learned Thai cooking in Thailand, describes fresh green peppercorns as adding “a sharp, herbal heat that’s different from dried pepper or chilies.”⁵

A widely repeated claim says green peppercorns are much milder than black. No sensory study or piperine measurement comparing the two was found for this page; the Codex standard sets minimum piperine levels for black and white pepper but none for green.¹ Treat “milder” as a common impression rather than a measured fact.

Origin and history

Green peppercorns share black pepper’s history; see black pepper for the full account. In brief:

• Native range. Kew’s species profile places black pepper’s origin in the Western Ghats of Kerala, India, as does PROSEA,³⁸ while Kew’s own distribution data list only Sri Lanka as native. The disagreement is set out on the black pepper page.
• Value. Pepper often served as a medium of exchange, and tributes were levied in pepper in ancient Greece and Rome, according to Britannica.⁹ Kew traces the English term “peppercorn rent” to pepper’s high price in medieval Europe.³
• Trade. In the Middle Ages the Venetians and Genoese became pepper’s main distributors in Europe, and their near-monopoly helped spur the search for a sea route east.⁹ Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa at the end of the 15th century.⁷

Production

McCormick Science Institute lists the largest black pepper producers in 2022 as Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, India, Burkina Faso and Malaysia, citing a secondary compilation.⁶ AramcoWorld reported in 2021 that Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia together grow more than 60% of the world’s pepper, without giving a year or source for the figure.⁷ India’s Spices Board reports 104,751 tonnes of pepper in 2024-25.¹⁰ None of these figures separates green pepper from black, and no production figure for green pepper alone was found.

How to use green peppercorns

• Thai curries. Suwanee’s jungle curry calls for about ¼ cup of fresh green peppercorns on the stem, and suggests green peppercorns preserved in brine, drained lightly, when fresh ones are not available.⁵ See Thai spices.
• Cream and pan sauces. By common practice, crushed brined green peppercorns go into cream or brandy sauces for steak and duck, a familiar French combination. See French spices and best spices for steak.
• Pâtés, terrines and butters. Whole brined peppercorns stud pâtés and compound butters; common practice.
• Grinding dried green peppercorns. Dried ones can go in a pepper mill, alone or in a mix; see peppercorn medley vs. black pepper.

Rinse brined peppercorns if you want less salt. Because they are soft, crush them with the back of a spoon rather than grinding. Both are kitchen judgment.

Buying and quality

The Codex standard sets these limits for whole green pepper:¹

For all classes, green pepper may hold no more than 12.0% moisture and 5.0% total ash, and must contain at least 1.0 mL of volatile oil per 100 g (dry basis).¹ The color must be green, greenish or dark greenish, with no added coloring, and green pepper is the only one of the three peppers for which Codex allows preservatives.¹

For shoppers: dried green peppercorns should be olive to dark green, not brown or black; brined ones should be firm and bright, in clear brine. That is kitchen judgment.

Storage

Dried green peppercorns keep like other whole spices: airtight, dark and cool. Once a jar of brined peppercorns is opened, keep it refrigerated and the berries covered with brine. Both are common practice; no shelf-life figure from a regulator or standards body was found for either form.

Health and safety

Pepper is often credited with a long list of benefits, from aiding digestion to fighting cancer. Britannica notes only a limited medicinal use for pepper as a carminative (to relieve gas),⁹ and no review was found supporting the disease claims; no source was found that measures vitamins, minerals or antioxidants in green peppercorns specifically. The best-documented finding about piperine concerns supplements: NCCIH says combining curcumin with piperine is one way to improve curcumin’s bioavailability.¹¹ No claim is made here that green peppercorns treat or prevent any disease.

• Salt. Brined and bottled green peppercorns are stored in strong salt solutions (17–20% in the processes above).² No sodium measurement for drained peppercorns was found.
• Mycotoxins (EU). EU law caps aflatoxin B1 at 5.0 µg/kg and total aflatoxins at 10.0 µg/kg in pepper, defined as the fruits of Piper species including white and black pepper.¹²

Substitutes and comparisons

• Green peppercorn substitutes
• Green peppercorns vs. capers, for the brined form
• The same vine: black pepper, white peppercorns, Tellicherry pepper
• A different plant with a similar name: pink pepper
• Over-peppered a dish? See too much pepper.