Black Pepper Piper nigrum - Kali mirchi The Keralans call black pepper ‘the King of Spices’ and it certainly has occupied the ‘top-slot’ in the history of Man’s obsession with spices and condiments for centuries. Greek and Roman courtesans used a mixture of black pepper and myrrh, mixed with equal quantities of two scents named Cyprus and Egyptian as a love potion. Pliny (1st century AD) refers to the spice, complaining about its high price and that white pepper cost twice that of black. In AD 408, Alaric the Goth demanded 3,000lb (1,360kg) of black pepper as part of his ransom for Rome. The Romans paid over the pepper, which Alaric more than thankfully accepted before sacking the city anyway in AD410! The statutes of Ethelred (978-1016), provide the earliest reference to a pepper trade in England, stipulating that ‘Esterlings’ who brought their ships up the River Thames to Billingsgate should pay a toll at Christmas and Easter, together with 10lb of pepper. One of the oldest guilds in the City of London is the Guild of Pepperers, who were fined for not having a Royal Licence in 1180, and were registered as Grosserii, or wholesalers, in 1328. Not surprisingly, it is from this word that the modern ‘grocer’ is derived. The term ‘peppercorn rent’, nowadays tending to denote a nominal fee, actually started off meaning that such a contract was taken very seriously indeed, based on the cost of a given weight of peppercorns per year, which were very expensive and seen as a more stable form of currency than money. European nobles found it indispensible during the Middle Ages, using it both as a seasoning and a preservative. It’s value grew to at least equal that of silver or gold and in 1204, the Venetians, who were supposed to transport the Fourth Crusade against Muslim Egypt, persuaded the penniless crusaders to loot the Christian city of Constantinople instead, wresting control of the spice trade for Venice in payment. It was the quest for a new source of pepper, second only to the desire to find gold, which fuelled the enthusiasm of the great explorers of the Renaissance. In 1498, Portugal’s Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut on the Malabar coast and offered beads and baubles in trade for pepper and other spices. The king was offended at such a mediocre offer, refused, and Da Gama promised to return with gold. He did, indeed return, five years later, with 10 warships, and showered Calicut with lead, not gold. Again, as with all spices, pepper has been imbued with magical qualities: pepper, caraway and fennel seeds were said to keep away evil forces when worn on a pouch around the neck and peppercorns were mixed with salt and scattered around homes to keep out negative influences. The peppercorns are the fruit of a climbing plant which are left to varying states of ripeness and treated in different ways to obtain the black, green and white pepper spices. Black pepper is obtained from fruits which are picked just before reaching full ripeness, fermented and then spread out in the sun to dry; white from ripe fruit, picked when scarlet, before being soaked, the endocarp removed for fermentation; green pepper by pickling unripe fruits to prevent them darkening. It is the pungent alkeloid, piperine which gives the bite to peppercorns, and although white pepper has more piperine, it has less of the aromatic principles found in black pepper. Other members of the Piper family are P. longum, used in India; P. betle, also an Indian native, whose leaves are wrapped around betel seeds and the juice of the gambier as a digestive and breath sweetener; P. Cubeba from Malaysia, which was very popular in this country during Medieval times; P. retroflexum from Indonesia; P. guineense, also known as Guinea or Benin pepper, a milder relative from West Africa. Red pepper, also known as false pepper or Peruvian pepper, is obtained from a different family of plants entirely, Schinus molle, and evergreen of Central American origin. They are used in Peru for making vinegar and alcoholic drinks. Xanthoxylum piperitum, also called Japanese Prickly Ash, whose orange berries are used to make the Japanese pepper-spice, sansho, hit the headlines recently as a ‘cure’ for grey hair. Dr Ohji Ifuku and his team of researchers at the cosmetics firm, Shiseido, found that extract of sansho can reactivate the pigment cells, or melanocytes, which give hair its colour and which stop reproducing as the body ages. Ayurveda, the healing doctrine which grew up in the home of pepper, naturally sees the spice as extremely beneficial to health. It is regarded as being dry, therapuetically heating and a digestive. It sharpens the appetite and stimulates the production of gastric juices and helps to expel excess wind. The essential oil is secreted by the lungs, so aiding in the treatment of pharyngitis and tonsilitis, and the recommended application is to take powdered pepper mixed with honey three times a day. A pinch of powdered black pepper, stirred into hot, sweetened milk is also used in Ayurveda to cure sore throats and headcolds. Pastes of black pepper are used for rheumatism and skin diseases and a hot dedoction of black pepper is used as an effective mouthwash to ease toothache. Its ability to promote sweating is also capitalised upon: a mixture of pepper, ginger and honey is prescribed for malarial fever. Unnani Tibb, the doctrine founded by Avicenna 1,000 years ago also values pepper as a medicine, and prescribing it internally for fever, colic and indigestion, and as a remedy for throat and gum infections and externally for rheumatism. 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper weighs 2.1g and has an energy value of 5 kcalories. It contains carbohydrate, protein, vitamin A, vitamins B1 and B2, niacin, sodium, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, zinc and selenium.