Pepper

タイトルまたは説明

Pepper (Piper nigrum), the king of spices, is one of the oldest and the most popular spice in the world. It is a perennial, climbing vine indigenous to the Malabar Coast of India. The hotly pungent spice made from its berries is one of the earliest spices known and is probably the most widely used spice in the world today. It was mentioned as far back as ***0 BC in ancient Sanskrit literature. In early historic times black pepper was widely cultivated in the tropics of Southeast Asia, where it became an important article of overland trade between India and Europe. It became a medium of exchange, and tributes were levied in black pepper in ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages the Venetian and the Genoese became the main distributors, their virtual monopoly of the trade helping to instigate the search for an eastern sea route. The name pepper comes from the Sanskrit word pippali meaning berry.

Botany: Apart from India, black pepper is widely cultivated throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, tropica Africa, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China also. It is a branching vine with a smooth, woody, articulate stem swollen at the joints. A woody climber, it may reach heights of *0m by means of its aerial roots. Its broad, shiny green, pointed , petiolate leaves are alternately arranged. The sessile, white, small flowers are borne in pendulous, dense, slender spikes of about *0 blossoms each. The berry-like fruits, or peppercorns, are round, about 0.5 - 1.0 cm in diameter and contain a single seed. They become yellowish red at maturity and bear a single seed. The odour is penetrating and aromatic; the taste is hot, biting and very pungent.