ABSTRACT
Pepper, before being made available for human consumption, have to go through several processing steps. The initial processing (onfarm processing) like removing the fruits from the stalk and sun drying them, etc. are done in a decentralised way in the farms. Although the process is very simple many factors like maturity play an important role in the appearance and colour of the final product. Dipping the despiked fruits in boiling water for a minute prior to drying produces pepper with uniform black colour. During the sun drying operation it is very important to turn over the material periodically for uniform drying. Otherwise a poor product with greyish, unattractive appearance and heavy mould growth could result.
