Of All The Spices, Why Is Pepper So Ubiquitous?

Dr. Carolyn Beans spices it up:

One spice to season them all

Black pepper comes from the berry-like fruits of the tropical vine Piper nigrum, first cultivated thousands of years ago on India’s Malabar Coast. Its warmth comes from piperine, which activates heat and pain receptors on the tongue. A sweeter relative, Piper longum, was also grown in northeastern India.

We say “heat” and “pain”, not because this is an especially hot spice, but rather simply because that’s how the body works in terms of receptors; we do not have a different receptor for every spice level, so one must do the job of many, and then perception simply becomes a matter of degree.

A thing to bear in mind when talking about pepper is that green, red, and white peppercorns all come from the same plant but are processed differently; black pepper is made by picking the fruits before they ripen and drying them in the sun until they darken.

As for its history, through ancient times, pepper was already prized in India as both a culinary spice and medicinal plant, particularly for digestive problems. Traders spread it to Indonesia and beyond; Egyptians used it more than 3,000 years ago, and more than 2,000 years ago, black pepper reached China and Rome through the Silk Road. A Roman cookbook from the 4th or 5th century CE included pepper in 81% of its 400 recipes, and in 410 CE, the Visigoths demanded more than 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of Rome’s ransom.

In more modern times, Alexandria, Venice, and Genoa became wealthy through the pepper trade. Wealthy Europeans used large quantities of spices, and myths about pepper growing on trees guarded by serpents helped justify its high price. In the late 15th century, Lisbon became Europe’s leading pepper-trading center, after Vasco da Gama established a direct sea route between Portugal and India.

You might be wondering about why chilli peppers share the name; no, they are not the same plant. Rather, black pepper was among the spices that motivated Christopher Columbus to search for a new route to India, and when he mistakenly reached the Americas, he mistakenly identified chilies as pepper.

Is there anything that man didn’t get wrong?

Anyway, nowadays, black pepper accounts for about 20% of global spice trade, and is often used even alongside more potent capsaicin-laden spices.

It’s also (for most people, and in moderation) great for the health in a number of ways; see our “learn more” section below for that!

Meanwhile, for more on all of this, enjoy:

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Take care!