Pepper: Varieties and The Differences Between The Types of Pepper

The best-known types of pepper at a glance

Pepper brings a spicy spiciness, but also an exotic taste to the plate. White and black pepper are the most commonly found in supermarkets. But there are more varieties.

• Red pepper is the fully ripened berries of the pepper bush. These are relatively sweet and fruity. If you peel the red berries, you get white pepper. This is a bit hotter than the unpeeled version.
• Green pepper also comes from the pepper bush. The unripe berries are harvested for this purpose. Green pepper is very mild and has a fresh note. If the unripe peppercorns are fermented, they produce the well-known black pepper with its characteristic sharpness.
• The stick pepper is the infructescence of a climbing pepper plant. Also known as long pepper, this spice was used in Europe long before pepper berries. Stick pepper is hot but also has a sweet and sour note.

Not every pepper comes from pepper plants

In supermarkets and spice dealers you will also find pepper varieties that botanically do not belong to the pepper family. However, they can be used in a similar way to real pepper.

• Guinea pepper was already known in Europe in the Middle Ages. However, these are not the fruits of the grains of paradise. These plants are related to ginger. The grains are hot and flavorful but not burning.
• Pink pepper is also not pepper in the botanical sense. Although the berries come from the so-called pepper tree, the plants are not related to the pepper bush but to the sumac. Pink pepper is very mild and tastes sweet.
• Even the cayenne pepper does not grow on a pepper bush. These are dried and ground cayenne chilies. The cayenne pepper gives a wide range of dishes a correspondingly high level of spiciness, but also a slightly smoky note.