Black pepper

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Peppercorn" redirects here. For other uses, see Peppercorn (disambiguation).

Black pepper
Pepper plant with immature peppercorns
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Piperaceae
Genus: Piper
Species:
P. nigrum
Binomial name
Piper nigrum

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter (fresh and fully mature), dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).[2]

Black pepper is native to the

tropical regions. Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice,[5] and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spiciness from that of capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is ubiquitous in the Western world as a seasoning, and is often paired with salt and available on dining tables in shakers or mills
.

Etymology

The word pepper derives from Old English pipor, Latin piper, and Greek: πέπερι.[6] The Greek likely derives from Dravidian pippali, meaning "long pepper".[7] Sanskrit pippali shares the same meaning.[6]

In the 16th century, people began using pepper to also mean the New World chili pepper (genus Capsicum), which is not closely related.[6]: 2b 

Varieties

Black, green, white, and pink (Schinus terebinthifolia) peppercorns

Processed peppercorns come in a variety of colours, any one of which may be used in food preparation, especially common peppercorn sauce.[8]

Black pepper

Black pepper is produced from the still-green, unripe

enzymes during drying.[9] The drupes dry in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper skin around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer. Once dry, the spice is called black peppercorn. On some estates, the berries are separated from the stem by hand and then sun-dried without boiling.[2]
After the peppercorns are dried, pepper spirit and oil can be extracted from the berries by crushing them.

White pepper

White pepper consists solely of the seed of the ripe fruit of the pepper plant, with the thin darker-coloured skin (flesh) of the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week so the flesh of the peppercorn softens and decomposes; rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Sometimes the outer layer is removed from the seed through other mechanical, chemical, or biological methods.[10]

Ground white pepper is commonly used in

mashed potatoes as a substitute for black pepper, because black pepper would visibly stand out. However, white pepper lacks certain compounds present in the outer layer of the drupe, resulting in a different overall flavour.[citation needed
]

Green pepper

Green pepper, like black pepper, is made from unripe drupes. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a way that retains the green colour, such as with

Pickled peppercorns, also green, are unripe drupes preserved in brine or vinegar
.

Fresh, unpreserved green pepper drupes are used in some cuisines like Thai cuisine and Tamil cuisine. Their flavour has been described as "spicy and fresh", with a "bright aroma."[11] They decay quickly if not dried or preserved, making them unsuitable for international shipping.

Red peppercorns

Red peppercorns usually consist of ripe peppercorn drupes preserved in brine and vinegar. Ripe red peppercorns can also be dried using the same colour-preserving techniques used to produce green pepper.[12]

Pink pepper and other plants

allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, for persons with a tree nut allergy
.

The bark of

field pennycress
.

  • Six variants of peppercorns (two types of white and two types of black, based on region)
    Six variants of peppercorns (two types of white and two types of black, based on region)
  • Black peppercorns and white peppercorns
    Black and white peppercorns
  • Dried red Kampot peppercorns
    Dried red
    Kampot peppercorns
  • Close-up of a peppercorn
    Close-up of a peppercorn

Plants

Pepper vine

The pepper plant is a

perennial woody vine growing up to 4 m (13 ft) in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground. The leaves are alternate, entire, 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) long and 3 to 6 cm (1.2 to 2.4 in) across. The flowers are small, produced on pendulous spikes 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) long at the leaf nodes, the spikes lengthening up to 7 to 15 cm (2.8 to 5.9 in) as the fruit matures.[13]

Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well-drained, and rich in organic matter (the vines do not do well over an altitude of 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level). The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure, and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils, the young plants require watering every other day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and then typically for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars, selected both for yield and quality of fruit.[citation needed]

A single stem bears 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is fully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the fruits lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped off the spikes.[13]

Black pepper is native either to

Piper, it is most closely related to other Asian species such as P. caninum.[15]

Wild pepper grows in the

Francis Buchanan (also a botanist and geographer) in his book A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (Volume III).[16] However, deforestation resulted in wild pepper growing in more limited forest patches from Goa to Kerala, with the wild source gradually decreasing as the quality and yield of the cultivated variety improved. No successful grafting of commercial pepper on wild pepper has been achieved to date.[16]

Production and trade

Black pepper production, 2020
Country Production
(tonnes)
 Vietnam
270,192
 Brazil
114,749
 Indonesia
89,041
 India
66,000
 Sri Lanka
43,557
 China
33,348
 Malaysia
30,804
World
747,644
Source:
FAOSTAT of the United Nations[17]

In 2020,

tonnes or 36% of the world total (table).[17] Other major producers were Brazil, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, China, and Malaysia. Global pepper production varies annually according to crop management, disease, and weather.[18] Peppercorns are among the most widely traded spice in the world, accounting for 20% of all spice imports.[19]

History

Black pepper is native to

peppercorn rent" as a token payment for something that is, essentially, a gift.[citation needed
]

The ancient history of black pepper is often interlinked with (and confused with) that of

Piper longum. The Romans knew of both and often referred to either as just piper. In fact, the popularity of long pepper did not entirely decline until the discovery of the New World and of chili peppers. Chili peppers—some of which, when dried, are similar in shape and taste to long pepper—were easier to grow in a variety of locations more convenient to Europe. Before the 16th century, pepper was being grown in Java, Sunda, Sumatra, Madagascar, Malaysia, and everywhere in Southeast Asia. These areas traded mainly with China, or used the pepper locally.[26]
Ports in the Malabar area also served as a stop-off point for much of the trade in other spices from farther east in the Indian Ocean.

Ancient times

Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE.[27] Little else is known about the use of pepper in ancient Egypt and how it reached the Nile from the Malabar Coast of South Asia.

Pepper (both long and black) was known in Greece at least as early as the fourth century BCE, though it was probably an uncommon and expensive item that only the very rich could afford.

A Roman-era trade route from India to Italy

By the time of the early

southern India's Malabar Coast was near routine. Details of this trading across the Indian Ocean have been passed down in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, the early empire sent a fleet of around 120 ships on an annual trip to India and back.[28] The fleet timed its travel across the Arabian Sea to take advantage of the predictable monsoon winds. Returning from India, the ships travelled up the Red Sea, from where the cargo was carried overland or via the Nile-Red Sea canal to the Nile River, barged to Alexandria
, and shipped from there to Italy and Rome. The rough geographical outlines of this same trade route would dominate the pepper trade into Europe for a millennium and a half to come.

With ships sailing directly to the Malabar coast, Malabar black pepper was now travelling a shorter trade route than long pepper, and the prices reflected it. Pliny the Elder's Natural History tells us the prices in Rome around 77 CE: "Long pepper ... is 15 denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four." Pliny also complains, "There is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces", and further moralizes on pepper:

It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite?

— Pliny, Natural History 12.14[29]

He does not state whether the 50 million was the actual amount of money which found its way to India or the total retail cost of the items in Rome, and, elsewhere, he cites a figure of 100 million sesterces.[28]

Black pepper was a well-known and widespread, if expensive, seasoning in the Roman Empire.

De re coquinaria, a third-century cookbook probably based at least partly on one from the first century CE, includes pepper in a majority of its recipes. Edward Gibbon wrote, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that pepper was "a favorite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery".[30]

Postclassical Europe

Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as

Islamic control. Once into the Mediterranean, the trade was largely monopolized by Italian powers, especially Venice and Genoa. The rise of these city-states
was funded in large part by the spice trade.

A

Bishop of Sherborne
, sheds some light on black pepper's role in England at that time:

I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover,
Yet within I bear a burning marrow.
I season delicacies, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries of the table,
Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen.
But you will find in me no quality of any worth,
Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow.[33]

It is commonly believed that during the

salt-cured meats
were common fare, especially in winter. However, pepper and other spices certainly played a role in improving the taste of long-preserved meats.

Archaeological evidence of pepper consumption in late medieval Northern Europe comes from excavations on the Danish-Norwegian flagship, Gribshunden, which sank in the summer of 1495. In 2021, archaeologists recovered more than 2000 peppercorns from the wreck, along with a variety of other spices and exotic foodstuffs including clove, ginger, saffron, and almond. The ship was carrying King Hans to a political summit at the time of its loss. The spices were likely intended for feasts at the summit, which would have included the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Councils of State.[36][37]

A depiction of Calicut, Kerala, India published in 1572 during Portugal's control of the pepper trade

Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages – and the monopoly on the trade held by Venice – was one of the inducements that led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to reach India by sailing around Africa (see Age of Discovery); asked by Arabs in Calicut (who spoke Spanish and Italian) why they had come, his representative replied, "we seek Christians and spices".[38] Though this first trip to India by way of the southern tip of Africa was only a modest success, the Portuguese quickly returned in greater numbers and eventually gained much greater control of trade on the Arabian Sea. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas granted Portugal exclusive rights to the half of the world where black pepper originated.

However, the Portuguese monopolized the spice trade for 150 years. Portuguese even became the lingua franca of the then known world. The spice trade made Portugal rich. However in the 17th century, the Portuguese lost most of their valuable Indian Ocean trade to the Dutch and the English, who, taking advantage of the Spanish rule over Portugal during the Iberian Union (1580–1640), occupied by force almost all Portuguese interests in the area. The pepper ports of Malabar began to trade increasingly with the Dutch in the period 1661–1663.7

Pepper harvested for the European trade, from a manuscript Livre des merveilles de Marco Polo (The book of the marvels of Marco Polo)

As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means. Today, pepper accounts for one-fifth of the world's spice trade.[39]

China

It is possible that black pepper was known in

Shu, an area in what is now the Sichuan province. The traditional view among historians is that "sauce-betel" is a sauce made from betel leaves, but arguments have been made that it actually refers to pepper, either long or black.[40]

In the third century CE, black pepper made its first definite appearance in Chinese texts, as hujiao or "foreign pepper". It does not appear to have been widely known at the time, failing to appear in a fourth-century work describing a wide variety of spices from beyond China's southern border, including long pepper.[41] By the 12th century, however, black pepper had become a popular ingredient in the cuisine of the wealthy and powerful, sometimes taking the place of China's native Sichuan pepper (the tongue-numbing dried fruit of an unrelated plant).[citation needed]

Marco Polo testifies to pepper's popularity in 13th-century China, when he relates what he is told of its consumption in the city of Kinsay (Hangzhou): "... Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs."[42]

During the course of the Ming treasure voyages in the early 15th century, Admiral Zheng He and his expeditionary fleets returned with such a large amount of black pepper that the once-costly luxury became a common commodity.[43]

Traditional medicine, phytochemicals, and research

Alice in Wonderland
(1865). Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper. Note the cook's pepper mill.

Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a traditional medicine. Pepper appears in the Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta, chapter five, as one of the few medicines a monk is allowed to carry.[44] Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used. Black pepper (or perhaps long pepper) was believed to cure several illnesses, such as constipation, insomnia, oral abscesses, sunburn, and toothaches, among others.[45]

Pepper contains phytochemicals,[46] including amides, piperidines, and pyrrolidines.[47]

Pepper is known to cause sneezing. Some sources say that piperine, a substance present in black pepper, irritates the nostrils, causing the sneezing.[48] Few, if any, controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question.

Nutrition

One

dietary fibre.[49]

Flavour

Handheld pepper mills with black (left) and mixed (right) peppercorns

Pepper gets its spicy heat mostly from

3-methylphenol (phenolic), and butyric acid (cheese).[53] The aroma of pepper is attributed to rotundone (3,4,5,6,7,8-Hexahydro-3α,8α-dimethyl-5α-(1-methylethenyl)azulene-1(2H)-one), a sesquiterpene originally discovered in the tubers of Cyperus rotundus, which can be detected in concentrations of 0.4 nanograms/l in water and in wine: rotundone is also present in marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, and geranium, as well as in some Shiraz wines.[54]

Pepper loses flavour and aroma through evaporation, so airtight storage helps preserve its spiciness longer. Pepper can also lose flavour when exposed to light, which can

pepper mills or grinders, which mechanically grind or crush whole peppercorns, are used for this as an alternative to pepper shakers that dispense ground pepper. Spice mills such as pepper mills were found in European kitchens as early as the 14th century, but the mortar and pestle used earlier for crushing pepper have remained a popular method for centuries, as well.[56]

Enhancing the flavour profile of peppercorns (including piperine and essential oils), prior to processing, has been attempted through the postharvest application of ultraviolet-C light (UV-C).[57]

See also

Media related to Piper nigrum at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Piper nigrum at Wikispecies Pepper at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject

  • False black pepper
    – Embelia ribes is a species in the family Primulaceae (the primrose family)

References

  1. ^ "Piper nigrum". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Harrison, Paul (27 January 2016). "What Are The Different Kinds of Peppercorns?". Food Republic. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  3. ISBN 978-0-313-32487-1
    . Peppers, called the king of spices, are the dried berries of a tropical vine native to Kerala, which is India's major producer
  4. ISBN 978-1-4262-1588-9
    .
  5. ^ (2018, February 6). These are the world’s three most traded spices. ITC. https://intracen.org/news-and-events/news/these-are-the-worlds-three-most-traded-spices
  6. ^ a b c "Pepper". Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Vol. 7 N–Poy (1 Corrected re-issue ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 1913. p. 663.
  7. OCLC 613210854
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  8. ^ Higgins, Edward (25 May 2015). "Where Do Peppercorns Come From?". Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Why Is Pepper Black? – Know Your Pantry". knowyourpantry.com. 22 October 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Cleaner technology for white pepper production". The Hindu Business line. 27 March 2008. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  11. ^ Ochef, Using fresh green peppercorns Archived 4 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 November 2005.
  12. ^ Katzer, Gernot (2006). Pepper Archived 5 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Black Pepper Cultivation and Harvest". Thompson Martinez. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  14. ^ "Piper nigrum Linnaeus". Flora of China.
  15. ^
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  16. ^ a b Manjunath Hegde, Bomnalli (19 October 2013). "Meet the pepper queen". Deccan Herald. No. Bangalore. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  17. ^ a b "Pepper (piper spp.), World regions/Production/Crops for 2019 (from pick list)". Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Statistical Division (FAOSTAT). 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Karvy's special Reports — Seasonal Outlook Report Pepper" (PDF). Karvy Comtrade Limited. 15 May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
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  20. ISBN 978-981-283-791-2
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  21. ^ J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 80
  22. ^ "Artefacts from the lost Port of Muziris." Archived 13 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Hindu. 3 December 2014.
  23. ^ "Muziris, at last?" Archived 23 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine R. Krishnakumar, www.frontline.in Frontline, 10–23 April 2010.
  24. ^ "Pattanam richest Indo-Roman site on Indian Ocean rim." Archived 13 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Hindu. 3 May 2009.
  25. ^ Prof. George Menachery; Fr. Werner Chakkalakkal, CMI (10 January 2001). "Cranganore: Past and Present". Kodungallur – The Cradle of Christianity in India. Archived from the original on 23 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  26. ^ Dalby, p. 93.
  27. ISBN 978-0-7565-3836-1
    . Retrieved 29 January 2008.
  28. ^ a b Young, p. 25.
  29. ^ From Bostock and Riley's 1855 translation. Text online Archived 23 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. OCLC 669186315
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  31. ^ J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 134
  32. ^ Innes Miller, The Spice Trade, p. 83
  33. ^ Translation from Turner, p 94. The riddle's answer is of course pepper.
  34. ^ Dalby, p. 156; also Turner, pp. 108–109, though Turner does go on to discuss spices (not pepper specifically) being used to disguise the taste of partially spoiled wine or ale.
  35. S2CID 21788355
    . Spices, which are used as integral ingredients in cuisine or added as flavouring agents to foods, are present in insufficient quantities for their antimicrobial properties to be significant.
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  37. ISSN 0065-101X
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  38. ^ Prasad, p. 3.
  39. ^ Jaffee, p. 10.
  40. ^ Dalby, pp. 74–75. The argument that jujiang was long pepper goes back to the fourth century CE botanical writings of Ji Han; Hui-lin Li's 1979 translation of and commentary on Ji Han's work makes the case that it was Piper nigrum.
  41. ^ Dalby, p. 77.
  42. ISBN 0-486-27587-6
    . p. 204.
  43. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2008.00250.x
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  44. ISBN 978-0-521-36708-0
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  45. ^ Turner, p. 160.
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  48. ^ U.S. Library of Congress Science Reference Services, "Everyday Mysteries", Why does pepper make you sneeze? Archived 31 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 November 2005.
  49. ^ "Nutrition facts for black pepper, one tablespoon (6 g); USDA Nutrient Database, version SR-21". Conde Nast. 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  50. ^ Pepper. Tis-gdv.de. Retrieved on 31 October 2012.
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  53. PMID 16028995
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  55. ^ McGee, p. 428.
  56. OCLC 47231315
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  57. PMID 29398783
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Bibliography

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