Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) The fruits of the evergreen tropical vine Piper nigrum L and its sub species. The sensoric quality is pungent and aromatic. The pungency is strongest in white pepper and weakest in green pepper, while black and green pepper is more aromatic than the white one. Black pepper is native to Malabar, a region in the Western Coast of South India; today, this region belongs to the union state Kerala. Pepper reached South East Asia more than two thousand years ago and is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia since about that time. The most important producers are Vietnam, Brasil, Indonesia, India, Sarawak and Srilanka.