PEPPER

Harvesting

In Kerala, black pepper flowers during May- June. The crop is ready for harvest in 6-8 months from flowering. The harvest season extends from November to January in the plains and January to March in the hills.

During harvest, the whole spike is hand picked when one or two berries in the spike turn bright orange. The berries are separated from the spikes and dried in the sun for 7- 10 days. The optimum moisture content in dried black pepper to prevent mould attack is 8- 10%.