pepper

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Piper nigrum, Piperaceae

The fruit of the pepper plant, a climbing bush originally from India. There are several hundred species of pepper. Whole pepper is often referred to as peppercorn.
Green pepper is not very pungent and is slightly fruity. It is preserved in brine or vinegar, or dried.
Black pepper is the most pungent and aromatic of peppers.
White pepper is milder than black pepper.
Gray pepper is quite rare on the market, and is always ground. It can also consist in a mixture of black and white pepper. Gray pepper is fairly mild.
Pink pepper (or "red pepper") is a dried berry with a delicate, perfumed and slightly pungent flavor, which deteriorates quickly.

Buying

Choose: heavy, compact peppercorns that don't crumble easily and have a uniform color. Preferably buy ground pepper in a place where the turnover of stock is rapid. 

Pepper is sold whole, cracked or ground, plain or seasoned. Green pepper is sold in brine, vinegar or dried. For best flavor and aroma, buy whole peppercorns and grind them as needed.

Serving Ideas

Pepper is added to almost all savory dishes, hot or cold: sauces, meats, vegetables, charcuterie products (sausages and deli meats), vinaigrettes and even certain desserts. 

White pepper is used to season white sauces, poultry and fish. 

Whole peppercorns flavor marinades, pâtés, charcuterie, cheeses and soups, stocks and stews. The flavor of pepper is enhanced when food is frozen.

Storing

At room temperature: whole, indefinitely; ground, 3 months; green, 1 week once the container is opened, otherwise, 1 year.

Cooking

Ground pepper loses its flavor and aroma if cooked for over 2 hr. Add ground pepper right at the end of cooking, so that it doesn't become bitter.

Nutritional Information

Properties: tonic, stimulating, carminative and antibacterial. Pepper can irritate the mucous lining of the stomach. It activates the production of saliva and gastric secretions and helps digestion. In high doses, pepper becomes an irritant and can overheat the body.

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For more information on pepper, visit Britannica.com.

Background

Pepper is often described as the "king of spices," and it shares a place on most dinner tables with salt. The word pepper originated from the Sanskrit word pippali, meaning berry. Pepper is now grown in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Kampuchea as well as the West coast of India, known as Malabar, where it originated. The United States is the largest importer of pepper. India is still the largest exporter of the spice, and Brazil may be among the newest exporter of pepper.

Both black and white pepper come from the shrub classified as Piper nigrum. Piper nigrum is one of about 1,000 species in the Piper genus that is part of the larger family of peppers called Piperaceae. The various species of Piper are grown mostly as woody shrubs, small trees, and vines in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The Piper nigrum is a climbing shrub that grows to about 30 ft (9 m) tall through a system of aerial roots, but is usually pruned to 12 ft (3.66 m) in cultivation. Its flowers are slender, dense spikes with about 50 blossoms each. The berry-like fruits it produces become peppercorns; each one is about 0.2 in (5 mm) in diameter and contains a single seed. It is indigenous to southern India and Sri Lanka, and has been cultivated in other countries with uniformly warm temperatures and with moist soil conditions. Because the plant also likes shade, it is sometimes grown interspersed within coffee and tea plantations. Each plant may produce berries for 40 years.

The hot taste sensation in pepper comes from a resin called chavicine in the peppercorns. Peppercorns also are the source of other heat-generating substances, including an alkaloid called piperine, which is used to add the pungent effect to brandy, and an oil that is distilled from the peppercorns for use in meat sauces.

As a natural medicinal agent, black pepper in tea form has been credited for relieving arthritis, nausea, fever, migraine headaches, poor digestion, strep throat, and even coma. It has also been used for non-medical applications as an insecticide. Of course, black pepper is a favorite spice of cooks because of its dark color and pungent aroma and flavor.

White pepper is also commonly used and is popular among chefs for its slightly milder flavor and the light color that compliments white sauces, mayonnaise, souffles, and other light-colored dishes. White pepper is also true pepper that is processed in the field differently than its black form.

A mixture of black and white peppercorns is called a mignonette. Ground pepper is also popular in mixes of spices. A French spice blend called quartre epices consists of white pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and either nutmeg or mace. Kitchen pepper is called for in some recipes for sauces and includes salt, white pepper, ginger, mace, cloves, and nutmeg. Pepper, therefore, proves itself to be a versatile and essential ingredient in combination with other spices, as well as in solitary glory in the pepper mill.

Other species of peppers, such as P. Iongum, P. cubeba, and P. guineense, produce peppercorns that are used locally for medicinal purposes, or are made into oleoresins, essential oils, or used as an adulterant of black pepper. Berries of pepper trees from the genus Schinus, family Euphorbiaceae, are not true peppers, but are often combined with true peppercorns for their color, rather than their flavor. S. terebinthifolius is the source of pink peppercorns, but must be used sparingly, because they are toxic if eaten in large quantity.

Betel leaf (P. betel) chewing, practiced by the Malays of Malaysia and Indonesia, is as popular as cigarette smoking in that region. Chewing the leaves aids digestion, decreases perspiration, and increases physical endurance.

Bell, cayenne, and chili peppers are not members of the Piper genus. They are classified within the family Solanacene, commonly known as nightshades. Comprised of over 2,000 species, the nightshade family is indigenous to Central and South America, although many species have been cultivated worldwide. Common nightshade species include potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, tobacco, and petunia.

History

Pepper was an important part of the spice trade between India and Europe as early as Greek and Roman times. Pepper remained largely unknown in Western Europe until the Middle Ages. During that time, the Genoese and Venetians monopolized sea trade routes and, therefore, also monopolized sale of pepper and other spices.

Knowledge of pepper truly flowered during the European period of exploration that began in the late fifteenth century. Pepper grows in hot, humid conditions near sea level, so many of the areas where pepper grows were simply unknown to Europeans until seafaring, exploring, and empire-building began. In addition, European tastes favored the "sweet pot," in which both sweet and savory ingredients were cooked in a single pot on the hearth. The spices used most often for this kind of cooking were nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, ginger, and cloves.

The pepper that was known in Europe from Roman times was the Piper longum (or long pepper) that is more aromatic and not so hot. Our familiar black pepper, or Piper nigrum, rose in popularity when the stove was introduced for cooking and sweet and savory foods could be prepared separately. Europeans valued pepper highly in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and pepper was often presented for gifts, rent, dowries, bribes, and to pay taxes.

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached India in 1497 and opened the trade route for pepper, among many other spices. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, and in the process, he made life complicated for pepper lovers. Columbus found a large and aromatic berry he dubbed "the Jamaican Pepper." This berry is extensively used as a ground spice today, but it is called allspice. His second peppery discovery was the capsicum. Its large, mild-flavored versions come in red, yellow, and green varieties; and it also includes these three colors in fiery hot chili peppers. The capsicum peppers are not related to the pepper found in shakers and mills. Cayenne pepper is ground from dried capsicums, so it also is not a variety of the dried berry.

To add further to the confusion Columbus unwittingly unleashed, the Spanish word for pepper is pimento; so the small slivers of red pimento found in olives are red pepper pieces, and allspice is also known as Jamaican pimento. Allspice, as this version of its name states, has a fragrance that suggests a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pepper. A few whole allspice berries added to the dinner-table pepper mill will spice up ground pepper.

Raw Materials

Peppercorns are the only raw material for both black and white pepper in any form. If the manufacturer produces green peppercorns, brine consisting of pure water, salt, and preservatives is used. Green peppercorns are also packed in vinegar; the vinegar or brine should be washed off the berries before the peppercorns are used in cooking.

The Manufacturing
Process

Cultivation

• The pepper berries grow on bushes that are cultivated to heights of about 13 ft (4 m). If the berries were allowed to ripen fully, they would turn red; instead, they are harvested when they are green. Harvesting is done without any mechanical equipment. Women pick the unripened berries and transport them in large wicker baskets to drying platforms. The berries are spread on these large platforms to dry in the sun over a period of about a week and a half. In their dried state, the green berries blacken to become the peppercorns we use in pepper mills.
• Alternatively, the pepper berries can be picked just as they begin to turn red. They are plunged into boiling water for approximately 10 minutes, and they turn black or dark brown in an hour. The peppercorns are spread in the sun to dry for three to four days before they are taken to the factory to be ground. This process is quicker than airdrying alone but requires the added step of the boiling water bath.
• If white pepper is to be produced, the peppercorns are either stored in heaps after they have been boiled or they are harvested and packed in large sacks that are then lowered into running streams for seven to 15 days (depending on location). Bacterial action causes the outer husk of each peppercorn, called the pericarp, to break away from the remainder of the peppercorn. The berries are removed from the stream and placed in barrels partially immersed in water; workers trample the berries, much like stomping grapes, to agitate the peppercorns and remove any remaining husks. Some processors now use mechanical methods to grind off the outer coating to produce so-called decorticated pepper, but many exporters prefer the old-fashioned method.

In the factory

• Black and white pepper are processed in the factory by cleaning, grinding, and packaging. Blowers and gravity separators are used to remove dust, dirt clods, bits of twigs and stalk, and other impurities from the peppercorns after they are imported from the field. Sometimes, treatments are used to eliminate bacteria on the cleaned, dry peppercorns.
• Grinding consists of using a series of rollers in a process called cold roll milling to crush the peppercorns. Cracked peppercorns are only crushed lightly to bruise the peppercorns and release their flavor. Further grinding steps crush peppercorns into coarse and fine grinds of pepper that are packaged separately. A sifter sorts the grains by size, and they are conveyed to packaging stations. Packaging varies widely among processors and includes bags, boxes, and canisters for large-volume commercial sales and smaller jars, cans, and mills for home use. Packing may also include the blending of pepper with other spices in a variety of spice mixes for preparing sauces, cajun recipes, Italian foods, seafood, and a range of other specialized blends.

Quality Control

Because pepper is harvested by hand, quality control begins in the field with the careful observations of the harvesters. Bulk importation of peppercorns is monitored, as with all agricultural products, by government inspectors. In the factory, machinery used to process pepper is simple, and the processing is observed throughout.

The Future

The life of the spice called pepper seems guaranteed. Since 1950, consumption of pepper in the United States has risen from about 14,000-30,000 tons (12,700-27,200 metric tons) per year. Interest in gourmet cooking, in types of cooking like cajun-style recipes that are spice-dependent, in restaurant dining, and in healthful food preparation have all sparked renewed enthusiasm for the flavor and goodness of pepper. Pepper will surely have an honored place at the table as long as there are cooks, kitchens, and taste-conscious consumers.

Where to Learn More

Books

Heinerman, John. The Complete Book of Spices: Their Medical, Nutritional and Cooking Uses. New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing Inc., 1983.

Norman, Jill.The Complete Book of Spices: A Practical Guide to Spices and Aromatic Seeds. New York: Viking Studio Books, 1990.

Stobart, Tom. The International Wine and Food Society's Guide to Herbs, Spices and Flavorings. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1970.

Walker, Jane. Creative Cooking with Spices: Where They Come From & How to Use Them. London: Quintet Publishing Ltd., 1985.

Periodicals

Ee, Khoo Joo. "The life of spice; cloves, nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon." UNESCO Courier (June 1984): 20.

Wemick, Robert. "Men launched 1,000 ships in search of the dark condiment." Smithsonian (February 1984): 128.

Other

Hela Spice Co. "The History of Spices." http://arcos.org/hela (March 24, 1999).

India Spice Board. http://www.indianspices.com (March 24, 1999).

McCormick & Company, Inc. March 24, 1999. http://www.mccormick.com (March 24, 1999).

[Article by: Gillian S. Holmes]

The garden pepper, Capsicum annuum (family Solanaceae), is a warm-season crop originally domesticated in Mexico. It is usually grown as an annual, although in warm climates it may be perennial. This species includes all peppers grown in the United States except for the “Tabasco&” pepper (C. frutescens), grown in Louisiana. Other cultivated species, C. chinense, C. baccatwm, and C. pubescens, are grown primarily in South America. Some 10–12 strictly wild species also occur in South America. Peppers are grown worldwide, especially in the more tropical areas, where the pepper is an important condiment.

Sweet (nonpungent) peppers, harvested fully developed but still green, are widely used in salads or cooked with other foods. Perfection pimento, harvested red ripe, is used for canning. Paprika is made from ripe red pods of several distinct varieties; the pods are dried and ground. See also Paprika; Pimento.

The ripe color of most varieties is red, a few varieties are orange-yellow, and in Latin America brown-fruited varieties are common. Nutritionally, the mature pepper fruit has three to four times the vitamin C content of an orange, and is an excellent source of vitamin A. See also Ascorbic acid; Vitamin A.

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verb

1. To mark with many small spots: bespeckle, besprinkle, dapple, dot, fleck, freckle, mottle, speck, speckle, sprinkle, stipple. See marks.
2. To direct a barrage at: barrage, bombard, cannonade, fusillade, shower. See attack/defend.

Columbus, from his first voyage onward, met Native Americans who were farmers. Columbus was looking for gold and spices; although he did not find much in the way of gold, he believed he had discovered spices, for he thought that a Caribbean shrub was cinnamon and that other plants were those reported from the East by Marco Polo. It is not clear whether he thought the Capsicum of the New World -- the common green or red pepper -- to be the same as black pepper; he clearly refers to "very hot spices" that must have been Capsicum. By 1493, Matyr (Pietro Martire de Anghiera) was using the accounts of Columbus's first voyage to describe Capsicum, which he called peppers, although clearly differentiating the American peppers from black pepper.

Although archaeological remains in the Americas make it clear that Capsicum originated there, there are puzzling aspects to how it traveled from the Americas, which it did quite speedily. The padres that accompanied the Spanish explorers brought back seeds of many plants, including Capsicum, for their monastery gardens. After that, the pattern of distribution becomes unclear.

For example, most botanists before 1600 thought that Capsicum had been imported from India, not the Americas. There was a reason for this belief. There is good evidence that Capsicum first reached Germany before 1542 from India, not the Americas. Thus, in less than 50 years, Capsicum had circled three-quarters of the way around the globe, traveling in what would seem to be the wrong direction.

The conventional view is that Portuguese sailors took Capsicum to their colonies in India sometime between their first voyages in 1498 and 1513. There, peppers could have been introduced to the Indians, as well as to the Ottoman Turks, who besieged the Portuguese colonies in 1513 and 1538. Then the Turks could have carried peppers with them to the Balkan peninsula, which they occupied. Botanists in Europe then would have gotten them from the Turks, who said the peppers were Indian. The tale becomes somewhat complicated because early writers attributed the origin of the name Capsicum to a 13th-century botanist, who, of course, wrote before Columbus's voyage.

The Indian connection remains somewhat of a mystery, especially because Capsicum is so much a part of Indian food. It should be noted, also, that traditional cooking from some regions of China is heavily dependent on Capsicum.

A further mystery is that Capsicum was being cultivated in Melanesia when the first Europeans arrived. Theories that explain this involve native traders bringing the plants by stages from India.

Of course, Capsicum quickly settled into Europe, becoming an essential part of the cuisine of Italy, for example, and Hungary (in the form of paprika). Other American food plants also quickly became naturalized, including the tomato, the potato, and the American bean. As a result, it is difficult to imagine any European cuisine before 1500.

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Description	Quantity	Energy (calories)	Carbs (grams)	Protein (grams)	Cholesterol (milligrams)	Weight (grams)	Fat (grams)	Saturated Fat (grams)
black	1 tsp	5	1	0	0	2.1	0	0
hot chili, raw, green	1 pepper	20	4	1	0	45	0	0
hot chili, raw, red	1 pepper	20	4	1	0	45	0	0
sweet, cooked, green	1 pepper	15	3	0	0	73	0	0
sweet, cooked, red	1 pepper	15	3	0	0	73	0	0
sweet, raw, green	1 pepper	20	4	1	0	74	0	0
sweet, raw, red	1 pepper	20	4	1	0	74	0	0

sign description: The F-hand makes a shaking motion infront of the body. For specific types of peppers, you would fingerspell the type after signing pepper. For example, for jalapeno you would sign pepper and then fingerspell jalapeno for clarification.

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Pepper can represent spiciness, irritation, or warmth-all of which are metaphors for aspects of human interaction. In a dream, pepper could be representing any one of these qualities. Also note that a shotgun blast is said to "pepper" its target.

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• Genres: Rock

Biography

Although Pepper's members are originally from Kona, HI, the trio doesn't play traditional Hawaiian music. Rather, Pepper's music is a melodic and accessible blend of alternative pop/rock, punk, and reggae. Formed in 1996, Pepper is hardly the only alterna-rock combo that has been inspired by Jamaican sounds. But while other punk-minded alternative pop/rockers who emerged in the '90s were greatly influenced by either classic '60s ska or hardcore dancehall artists like Stitchie, Ninjaman, and Bounty Killer, Pepper usually gets more inspiration from '70s and early-'80s reggae, Pepper's sound could be described as the Police meets Steel Pulse meets punk-pop. It isn't hard to see the parallels between a Pepper song like "The Good Thing" and Police hits such as "Roxanne" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me," but while Sting and his colleagues sounded polished, Pepper tends to favor a rawer, more rugged approach.

Two of Pepper's three members started working together in 1996; that was when singer/guitarist Kaleo Wassman first joined forces with bassist/singer Bret Bollinger. After going through quite a few drummers in the '90s, Pepper decided that Yesod Williams was the best man for the job. With the Wassman/Bollinger/Williams lineup in place, Pepper left Hawaii for Los Angeles and went on to be an opening act for shows by Burning Spear, Shaggy, Eek-a-Mouse, Pato Banton, and other major reggae artists. Pepper first entered the studio in 1997 to record a seven-song demo. But by 1999, the trio was signed to the independent, L.A.-based Volcom Entertainment.

Pepper's songs appeared on various Volcom compilations, including 1999 Summer Sampler and The Early Poems Of. The threesome's' first full-length album, Give'n It, was released by Volcom in 2000. The following year, Pepper produced a sophomore album, Kona Town, with Steve Kravac (who has worked with blink-182, Youth Brigade, Guttermouth, Less Than Jake, and other alternative rockers). Volcom released Kona Town in 2002 and In with the Old followed two years later, as Pepper continued touring with the likes of 311 and Snoop Dogg. The band also began its own record label, LAW Records, whose first release was a 2003 reissue of Give'n It. A live DVD was issued in early 2006 before the guys returned that fall with the studio full-length No Shame and a subsequent tour alongside Slightly Stoopid. Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations followed in 2008. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi

Read More Description Chemical Composition Pharmacology & Biological Activities Commercial Preparations Uses

Source: Piper cubeba L. f. (syn. Cubeba officinalis Miq.) (Family Piperaceae).

Common/vernacular names: Cubeba, cubeb berries, and tailed pepper.

Evergreen shrub or climbing vine, up to about 6 m high, often grown with other economic plants such as coffee; native to Indonesia and cultivated throughout Southeast Asia. Part used is the dried, fully grown but unripe fruit, commonly called cubeb berry, with its attached peduncle or stem (hence also called tailed pepper); cubeb oil is produced by steam distillation of the crushed fruits, usually in Europe and in the United States.

Previous:	Cranberry
Next:	Cumin

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Also called tomato pepper, tomato squash pepper, pimiento, tomato pimiento, pimenton, Hungarian paprika, noble paprika, sweet paprika. Paprika slices are used to stuff green olives. See Color (Colorants), Capsicum.

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For a list of words related to pepper, see:

• Shrubs
• Herbs and Spices
• Baseball - pepper: a game designed as a hitting drill where a batter stands across from a small group of teammates who throw pitches at the batter from close range; it helps hand-eye coordination and bat control
• Outdoor Games
• Violent Actions - pepper: assault or hit repeatedly with small blows

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See words rhyming with "pepper."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Pepper.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - peber, peberfrugt
v. tr. - pebre, krydre

idioms:

• pepper mill    peberkværn
• pepper pot    stærkt krydret ret, peberbøsse

Nederlands (Dutch)
peper, paprika, scherp (pittig) iets, bestrooien, bekogelen, (in)peperen, zwaar bestraffen

Français (French)
n. - poivre, poivron
v. tr. - poivrer, (fig) parsemer (de), être parsemé de, cribler (de)

idioms:

• pepper mill    moulin à poivre
• pepper pot    poivrier

Deutsch (German)
n. - Pfeffer, Paprika
v. - übersäen, bombardieren, pfeffern

idioms:

• pepper mill    Pfeffermühle
• pepper pot    Pfefferstreuer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μαγειρ.) πιπέρι, (φυτολ.) καψικόν, πέπερι (κν. πιπεριά)
v. - προσθέτω πιπέρι, (μτφ.) πασπαλίζω, ραντίζω, καταχερίζω, βομβαρδίζω

idioms:

• pepper mill    μύλος αλέσεως πιπεριού
• pepper pot    πιπεριέρα

Italiano (Italian)
bersagliare, pepare, peperone, pepe

idioms:

• pepper mill    macinapepe
• pepper pot    pepaiola

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pimenta (f), pimentão (m)
v. - apimentar, surrar

idioms:

• pepper mill    moedor de pimenta
• pepper pot    pimenteiro

Русский (Russian)
перчить, осыпать, перец

idioms:

• pepper mill    мельница для перца
• pepper pot    перечница

Español (Spanish)
n. - pimiento, pimienta
v. tr. - acribillar a, sazonar con pimienta, salpicar

idioms:

• pepper mill    molinillo de pimienta
• pepper pot    pimentero, sopa de carne y legumbres sazonada con ají y pimienta

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - peppar, paprika
v. - peppra, översålla, beskjuta, puckla, smiska, smattra

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
胡椒粉, 加胡椒粉于, 使布满, 雨点般地撒, 痛打

idioms:

• pepper mill    手碾胡椒的小罐
• pepper pot    胡椒粉盒, 辣味浓汤

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 胡椒粉
v. tr. - 加胡椒粉於, 使佈滿, 雨點般地撒, 痛打

idioms:

• pepper mill    手碾胡椒的小罐
• pepper pot    胡椒粉盒, 辣味濃湯

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 후추, 자극성(의 것)
v. tr. - (후추를) 뿌리다, (총알.질문 따위를) 퍼붓다, 톡 쏘아주다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - こしょう, コショウ, トウガラシ, 辛辣さ, 短気
v. - 浴びせる, 振りかける

idioms:

• pepper mill    コショウ挽き
• pepper pot    こしょう入れ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) فلفل (فعل) يضع الفلفل على الطعام‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פלפל‬
v. tr. - ‮זרה פלפל, הוסיף פלפל, המטיר, רגם‬

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