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

Green, black and white pepper all come off the same vine. Green peppercorns are the unripe berries of Piper nigrum, and what keeps them green is the handling after picking: they’re 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 the brined ones are soft enough to crush with a fork. You’ll often hear they’re much milder than black, too, but we found no measurement that backs that up.

At a glance

One vine, three colors

The Codex standard defines all three by how they’re processed:¹

• Black pepper comes from dried berries with the outer layer (pericarp) unbroken. AramcoWorld, quoting spice author Ian Hemphill, explains that when green peppercorns dry in the sun, a naturally occurring enzyme in the skin turns them black.⁴
• White pepper comes from dried berries with the pericarp removed.
• Green pepper comes from green berries with the moisture removed under controlled conditions.

Depending on harvest time and processing, peppercorns can be black, white, green or red. So green peppercorns aren’t a separate plant or variety. The difference from black pepper is mostly 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.⁵ PROSEA calls preserved immature green pepper a use “of secondary importance” next to black pepper.⁶

How green peppercorns are made

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

KAU adds that berries for green pepper products come straight off the vine and get processed within 24 hours.² Fresh green peppercorns on the stem are used in Thai cooking (more 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. The Codex standard requires green pepper to have a pungent smell and flavor characteristic of green pepper, free from mustiness and bitterness.¹ Suwanee, a cook who learned Thai cooking in Thailand, says fresh green peppercorns add “a sharp, herbal heat that’s different from dried pepper or chilies.”⁷

You’ll often read that green peppercorns are much milder than black. We found no sensory study or piperine measurement comparing the two, and the Codex standard sets minimum piperine levels for black and white pepper but none for green.¹ So “milder” is a common impression, not a measured fact.

Origin and history

Green peppercorns share black pepper’s history; see black pepper for the full story. The short version:

• Native range. Kew’s species profile places black pepper’s origin in the Western Ghats of Kerala, India, as does PROSEA,⁸⁶ while Kew’s own distribution data list only Sri Lanka as native. The black pepper page lays out that disagreement.
• Value. Pepper often served as money, and tributes were levied in pepper in ancient Greece and Rome. The English term “peppercorn rent” goes back to pepper’s high price in medieval Europe.
• 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. Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa at the end of the 15th century.

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.³ 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.⁴ India’s Spices Board reports 104,751 tonnes of pepper in 2024-25.⁹ None of these figures separates green pepper from black, and we found no production figure for green pepper alone.

How to use green peppercorns

• Thai curries. Suwanee’s jungle curry calls for about ¼ cup of fresh green peppercorns on the stem. When fresh ones aren’t around, she suggests green peppercorns in brine, drained lightly.⁷ See Thai spices.
• Cream and pan sauces. Crushed brined green peppercorns go into cream or brandy sauces for steak and duck, a familiar French pairing. See French spices and best spices for steak.
• Pâtés, terrines and butters. Whole brined peppercorns stud pâtés and compound butters.
• 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. They’re soft, so crush them with the back of a spoon instead of grinding.

Buying and quality

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

For all classes, green pepper can 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 has to be green, greenish or dark greenish, with no added coloring. Green pepper is also the only one of the three for which Codex allows preservatives.

When you shop: dried green peppercorns should be olive to dark green, not brown or black. Brined ones should be firm and bright, in clear brine.

Storage

Dried green peppercorns keep like other whole spices: airtight, dark and cool. Once you open a jar of brined peppercorns, keep it in the fridge with the berries covered in brine.

Health and safety

Pepper often gets credited with a long list of benefits, from helping digestion to fighting cancer. Britannica notes only a limited medicinal use for pepper as a carminative (to relieve gas),¹⁰ and we found no review backing the disease claims, or any source measuring vitamins, minerals or antioxidants in green peppercorns specifically. The best-documented piperine finding is about supplements: NCCIH says combining curcumin with piperine is one way to improve curcumin’s bioavailability.¹¹ We’re not claiming green peppercorns treat or prevent any disease.

• Salt. Brined and bottled green peppercorns sit in strong salt solutions (17–20% in the processes above).² We found no sodium measurement for drained peppercorns.
• 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.