Ender Pearl

The Ender Pearl is an item that was added in the 1.8 update and is sometimes dropped by endermen upon death. These pearls can be commonly found during rainstorms and less commonly in bodies of water "naturally" as endermen take damage from touching water. Before 1.9, this occurred much more frequently because Endermen didn't attempt to teleport away when they come into contact with water.

Use
It is possible to throw an Ender Pearl by right clicking in order to teleport to its impact location. However, teleporting with ender pearls will not work in Creative Mode, and upon teleportation will result in falling damage. Upon teleporting, the player is briefly surrounded by the same particles generated by Endermen, and the thrown Ender Pearl will disappear. This feature was added in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2.

Ender pearls are also necessary to craft Eyes of Ender which are required to find strongholds and repair End Portals.

In 1.8, when this item was introduced, it had no use whatsoever, and fans were left speculating on what it did until the prereleases of 1.9.

Crafting
The placement of the Blaze Powder and Ender Pearl doesn't matter as long as they are both in the crafting grid.

Bugs

 * Using an Ender Pearl while inside a Boat will not teleport you, but you still suffer damage from it.

Trivia

 * Because the damage taken while teleporting is 'falling damage', Wearing boots enchanted with Feather Falling will reduce the damage taken. With a high enough level, one could travel a long distance very quickly.