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The Big Deal About Pink & Black Pepper

When you think of essential oils you probably don’t think about pepper as being one you would use very often. This basic kitchen stable used daily around the world to flavor dishes can actually be a powerful element when used in its essential oil form.

The oil form of pepper introduces intense flavor that quite frankly you are not going to get through your kitchen pepper grinder and certainly not in the already ground pepper you can purchase in the grocery store. It’s amazing to me every time I use pink or black pepper essential oil in place of peppercorns in the kitchen how much different my dishes actually taste.  You can actually smell, taste and appreciate how wonderful pepper is to use in cooking when using the essential oil form.

Black and Pink pepper are both peppercorns but are very different in tastes, aromas and capabilities when used to support our cooking, physical health and emotional well-being.

Harvest and Distilling Process

doTERRA’s Black and Pink pepper are handpicked by individuals where the trees and plants grow naturally.

With Pink Pepper, the process of picking is done mostly by hand with someone climbing the tree and another person catching the bulbs on a cloth on the ground. The bulbs are then sun dried and carried to a distiller for steam distillation into the essential oil.

pink pepper tree

The pepper sources for doTERRA are rural individual farmers that make their living picking black and pink pepper.  These are families, women and small communities that may not otherwise have a viable source of income if it were not for the connection they have with doTERRA. The farmers are able to be paid on the spot for their harvest allowing them to take care of their families immediately without waiting for a paycheck.

The peppercorns harvested by these farmers is carried in large sacks on the backs of people or in small carts pulled by hand or animals to a local distiller. There the peppercorns are washed and steam distilled into the essential oils.

doTERRA has several quality tests that are performed throughout this process. For instance, the land and plants