Prik Thai Khao — White Pepper in Thai Cooking / พริกไทยขาว

Pan-Thai — Chantaburi province is the historical production centre; white pepper was established in Thai cooking well before chilli arrived from the Americas

White pepper (Piper nigrum, prik thai khao) is the preferred pepper of Thai cooking — not black pepper, which is considered a Chinese import for the most part. White pepper is produced by removing the outer husk of the ripe red berry to reveal the inner seed, producing a hotter, sharper, more fermented heat than black pepper's resinous warmth. In Thai cooking, freshly ground white pepper (cracked or fine-ground) is essential in soups, marinades, and the base coriander-root paste. Aged dried white pepper has a distinctively funky, fermented quality — this is not a defect but a feature. Whole white peppercorns are also used in certain green and massaman paste preparations.

White pepper's sharp, funky heat defines the backbone of Central Thai soups and marinades — it is what makes gaeng jeud (plain vegetable soup) taste definitively Thai despite its simple ingredients.