Black pepper

Black pepper is a woody climbing vine that bears long, hanging spikes of small round fruits called drupes, each holding a single seed. The green fruits are picked unripe and dried in the sun, when the skin shrivels and darkens to a wrinkled black, producing the black peppercorn.

Each peppercorn is about five millimetres across and has a hot, pungent bite and a woody, citrusy, slightly floral aroma that is released on grinding.

The same plant gives white pepper, made from ripe fruits with the outer layer removed, and green pepper, preserved unripe fruit. Black pepper is sold whole, cracked or ground.

Piper nigrum is native to the Western Ghats of southwestern India, in the Malabar region of what is now Kerala. From there cultivation spread to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and in later centuries to Vietnam, Brazil and other tropical countries.

Vietnam is now the world's largest producer. Pepper vines are grown on stakes or living trees in humid, tropical climates.

The English word pepper is from Old English pipor, from Latin piper and Greek peperi, ultimately from a Sanskrit term pippali, which referred originally to long pepper before being applied to the Malabar vine.

Pepper is one of the most famous commodities in world history. Black peppercorns were found in the nostrils of the mummy of Ramesses II, and Greek and Roman traders brought pepper from India through the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade routes. Rome's wealth was partly measured in pepper in tribute, and it was part of the ransom of the city demanded by Alaric the Visigoth in 408 CE according to some accounts.

In medieval Europe, the Venetians and Genoese profited from the spice trade, and the high price of pepper encouraged Portuguese navigators such as Vasco da Gama to find a sea route to India in 1498. Dutch and English trading companies later fought over the pepper-producing regions of Indonesia and Malabar.

Pepper was once so valuable that it was used to pay rent and dowries. As prices fell with expansion of cultivation in the 19th and 20th centuries, it became an everyday seasoning on tables worldwide.

Black pepper is ground over savoury dishes, steak au poivre, soups, eggs and salads, and is used in marinades, spice rubs, sausages and pickling brines. It is a staple in almost all spice blends, such as garam masala and many curry powders.

Whole peppercorns flavour stocks and pickles and are used in traditional dishes like Cacio e pepe.

In Ayurvedic and other systems of traditional medicine, pepper has been combined with ginger and long pepper as a warming digestive formula called trikatu.

The main pungent compound, piperine, has been widely studied. Piperine can increase the absorption of certain compounds, such as curcumin from turmeric and some medicines, by affecting metabolism in the gut and liver. Laboratory studies show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but strong human evidence of disease prevention is lacking.

In normal culinary amounts, pepper adds flavour and small amounts of manganese and vitamin K, and may stimulate digestive secretions.