White pepper is often used in Vietnamese soups and pork dishes. Hot and sour soup gets its heat primarily from white pepper, unlike other Szechuan dishes where chilies play a prominent role. White pepper is used in Swedish dishes as well, such as Swedish meatballs with cream sauce and is called vitpeppar in Swedish.
White pepper is a spice produced from the dried fruit of the pepper plant, Piper nigrum, as is black pepper. It is usually milder than black pepper, with less complex flavor. Both whole and ground white pepper are available.
Whole peppercorns retain their flavor for much longer, so recipes often advise using freshly ground pepper. The same is true with white peppercorns. If you want the most flavor, grind it fresh before using. Ground white pepper is readily available, but it will lose its potency faster over time. Both ground and whole white pepper go stale faster than black pepper, so be sure to refresh your stock regularly.
White pepper has very few calories and adds a lot of flavor to a dish, which may enable to you cut back on salt. You usually would not use enough of it to benefit from the small amount of vitamin C, calcium, and iron it contains1. The highest trace mineral content is manganese, with 2 percent of daily value for 1 gram (1/3 teaspoon). Like black pepper, white pepper can speed up your digestion and gut motility.
Store white pepper in a tightly sealed container away from light. The peppercorns will store longer than ground white pepper, which will lose its flavor and potency after about three months. It won't spoil and will be safe to use, but you may need more to get the same flavor in your dish. For this reason, it's wise to purchase ground white pepper in smaller quantities that you will use in a shorter time frame.
