Black Pepper EO

Latin name :

Piper nigrum

Botanical profile :

Black pepper is the fruit of a tree of the family Piperaceae and the genus Piper.

Geographic origin :

Originally from India and the Ghats region, black pepper is mainly cultivated in Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia, India and China, among 26 producing countries. Thailand is the most productive country for pepper per hectare

Chemotypes :

There are many species of pepper (Piper), cultivable for perfume or not:
Piper nigrum (Black Pepper EO) - Classic pepper, worldwidely famous for its spice
Piper betel (Betel leaf EO) - From south east Asia, known for the medicial properties of its leaves.
Piper cubeba (Cubeb pepper Absolute - Cubeb pepper CO2 - Cubeb pepper EO) Cubeb pepper, or ''tailled pepper ''
Piper umbellatum - Cow foot leaf , native to the Amazon.
Piper guineense - Guinea pepper, rich in myristicin.
Piper bourbonense - Bourbon pepper, from Madagascar.
Piper longum - Long pepper, used in Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine.
Piper longifolium - Long-leaved pepper.

There are also fake peppers:
Cubeba officinalis - whose leaves are distilled.
Pimenta dioica - Jamaican pepper or All Spice EO.
Zanthoxylum armatum - Sichuan Pepper Absolute.
Capsicum frutescens - Cayenne pepper.

Extraction process :

The pepper tree is a creeper that can reach up to 10 meters long, whose flowers are grouped in ears and form globular berries overtime, called pepper. The cultivation is done on pepper vines, or more rarely in growing pots with a lower yield. In December and January, as they become red, the clusters of black pepper are harvested, stocked a few hours in bags, soaked for 2 minutes in boiling water and dried in the sun for a few days (a quick drying can be done with a dryer at a higher cost). Then, the fruits begin to become brown and wrinkle. The maturity of the spikes depends on the region, the altitude and the temperature of culture among others. The culture is delayed depending on the type of pepper wished for the production.
The cultivation in India is done in small plantations where several other plants are grown, while Vietnam and other countries cultivate it in exclusive plantations. A mechanization of the culture is possible, but it only concerns the biggest plantations.
After being crushed, the berries are steam distilled for 6 hours. The essential oil is separated by decantation of the water in the distillate. The efficiency of the steam distillation is 2 to 3%. The yields of culture and extraction are better with a plant of 6 to 20 years of age.
Black pepper can also be extracted with a volatile solvent to obtain a resinoid with a yield of 6 to 14%. The berries are also extractible with supercritical CO₂, to obtain a high olfactory quality at a higher cost.

Major Components :

D-Limonene (≈20%)
Beta-Caryophyllene (≈15%)
Alpha-Pinene (10-15%)
Beta-Pinene (10-15%)
Delta-3-Carene (10-15%)
Sabinene (≈5%)