Black pepper (Piper nigrum) grown in Kerala

From the archive record

Black pepper originate in Kerala. It is grown in Kerala in large number it is also known as black gold. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed. Peppercorns, and the ground pepper derived from them, may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit) and white pepper (unripe fruit seeds). Black pepper is native to south India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropaical regions. Currently Vietnam is the