Black Pepper
Cost per kilo 14,00 €


Select form(grounded, whole)

Black pepper is a flowering vine which can come to reach five meters in height. It has big stems which bear small, round fruit. Black peppercorn is the unripened green fruit of the Piper Nigrum plant. The unripened fruit of the plant are then collected and sun-dried till turned black. Black pepper contains the chemical compound piperine, which gives the spice its characteristic hot flavour.

 It is the most sought after spice in the world and is renowed and used in every cuisine internationally. It can be added in all different kinds of dishes, including salads, sauces, meat, fish, vegetables and pasta. It is also commonly used in pharmacology and the perfumery industry as well as having a few applications in cosmetology.

 

History:

 The black pepper plant has been cultivated in India since the 13th century. Black peppercorn seeds were also found stuffed inside Ramesses the Second's nostrils, as part of the mummification process after his death. Egypt held a leading role in pepper trade around the entire Europe. The Arabs transported black pepper by land all the way to the Egyptian capital Alexandria and slowly established the spice's monopoly. At that time, pepper was sometimes used as commodity money and it completely substituted any local currency.

 In the Byzantium as well as the ancient Greece, due to its costly price, it was mainly relished by the emperor and their court and could only be afforded by the rich.

Black pepper also contributed in the discovery of many unknown at that time locations by explorers who, in the attempt to encounter alternative routes towards India and while trying to extract the pepper's trade monopoly from the Arabs, came across many different places, still unidentified at that time.

 Eventually, the English conquered India and took control of the exportation of black pepper to Europe. However, the plant had already started being cultivated in various other places like Sumatra, Malaysia, Campogia and the Madagascarian island. For that reason, the importation of black pepper in Europe became more massive in the 17th and 18th centuries, thus resulting in the drop of the product's price. It finally became a spice more available to the broader public and it stopped being exclusive to only the richer population.

 

Medical Application:

 •       It improves overall digestive function

•       It alleviates rheumatism induced pain

•       It soothes toothache

•       Has antibacterial properties

•       Is considered antioxidant

•       It offers protection againt prostate's and large intestine's cancer

•       It increases metabolic rate and helps with the fat burning process

•       It contains efficient amounts of iron and manganese