The History of Black Pepper

Black pepper is the most widely used spice in the world. It consists of peppercorns, which are the dried drupes (small, berry-like fruits) of the Piper nigrum vine. To create black pepper, the drupes are picked off the vine while still green, allowed to ferment, and then sun-dried until they shrivel up and turn a dark-brown or black hue. The name “pepper” comes from the Sanskrit word for long pepper, pippali, as well as the Greek word peperi and the Latin word piper. Black pepper is native to Malabar (northern Kerala), a tropical coastal region of India. It has grown there for thousands of years and was first introduced to the Western world after the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Pepper quickly became so precious that it was weighed like gold and then used as currency to pay taxes, tributes, dowries, and even housing rent. When Rome was captured in 410 AD, 3,000 pounds of pepper were demanded as ransom! Pepper was also used in ancient Roman cuisine and later became a status symbol associated with fine Medieval cooking in Europe. Pepper became so popular that it even played a role in the European Age of Exploration — when he landed in the Americas, Christopher Columbus had been attempting to establish a direct trade route for accessing pepper and other spices in what was then known as the East Indies. At the time, pepper was exclusively grown in a small region of India and throughout history, various cultures sought a monopoly on the lucrative spice. Today, the world’s largest black pepper producers include India as well as Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, and Malaysia. The compound piperine gives black pepper its characteristic heat and flavor; variations in growing conditions also produce slight differences in flavor, with the finest variety of black pepper being Tellicherry pepper, which is grown in India. Today, black pepper is the most widely used spice in the world and is especially popular in America, where it is considered a kitchen staple.