76-565: Kamis S.A. is a Polish manufacturer of spices , mustard , ketchup , breading , marinades , vinegar , salt , tea . Most of the products are sold under the brand names Kamis or Galeo, Tea – under the brand name Irving Tea. The company was founded in 1991. Apart from Poland it is active in other markets in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, as well as in Germany and the USA. Kamis
152-974: A sesquiterpene originally discovered in the tubers of Cyperus rotundus , which can be detected in concentrations of 0.4 nanograms/l in water and in wine: rotundone is also present in marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, and geranium, as well as in some Shiraz wines . Pepper loses flavour and aroma through evaporation, so airtight storage helps preserve its spiciness longer. Pepper can also lose flavour when exposed to light, which can transform piperine into nearly tasteless isochavicine . Once ground, pepper's aromatics can evaporate quickly; most culinary sources recommend grinding whole peppercorns immediately before use for this reason. Handheld pepper mills or grinders, which mechanically grind or crush whole peppercorns, are used for this as an alternative to pepper shakers that dispense ground pepper. Spice mills such as pepper mills were found in European kitchens as early as
228-449: A tincture . Such processing may happen before a spice is offered for sale, while preparing a dish in a kitchen, or after a dish has been presented for consumption (such as peppercorns ground at the table as a condiment ). Some spices such as turmeric are seldom available either fresh or whole and so must be purchased in ground form. Small seeds such as fennel or mustard may be used either whole or in powdered form. A whole dried spice has
304-478: A "bright aroma." They decay quickly if not dried or preserved, making them unsuitable for international shipping. Red peppercorns usually consist of ripe peppercorn drupes preserved in brine and vinegar. Ripe red peppercorns can also be dried using the same colour-preserving techniques used to produce green pepper. Pink peppercorns are the fruits of the Peruvian pepper tree , Schinus molle , or its relative,
380-531: A burning marrow. I season delicacies, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries of the table, Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen. But you will find in me no quality of any worth, Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow. It is commonly believed that during the Middle Ages , pepper was often used to conceal the taste of partially rotten meat. No evidence supports this claim, and historians view it as highly unlikely; in
456-402: A certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite? He does not state whether the 50 million was the actual amount of money which found its way to India or the total retail cost of
532-687: A common commodity. Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a traditional medicine . Pepper appears in the Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta , chapter five, as one of the few medicines a monk is allowed to carry. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used. Black pepper (or perhaps long pepper) was believed to cure several illnesses, such as constipation , insomnia , oral abscesses , sunburn , and toothaches , among others. Pepper contains phytochemicals , including amides , piperidines , and pyrrolidines . Pepper
608-521: A daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent pandemics . In addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine , the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages, believing spices to be from and a connection to "paradise". An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the King of Aragon , who invested substantial resources into importing spices to Spain in
684-489: A ground spice can be much shorter. Ground spices are better stored away from light. Some flavor elements in spices are soluble in water; many are soluble in oil or fat. As a general rule, the flavors from a spice take time to infuse into the food so spices are added early in preparation. This contrasts to herbs which are usually added late in preparation. A study by the Food and Drug Administration of shipments of spices to
760-467: A relative of cardamom which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, long pepper , mace , spikenard , galangal , and cubeb . Voyagers from Spain and Portugal were interested in seeking new routes to trade in spices and other valuable products from Asia. The control of trade routes and the spice-producing regions were the main reasons that Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sailed to India in 1499. When da Gama discovered
836-414: A spice is derived in part from compounds (volatile oils) that oxidize or evaporate when exposed to air. Grinding a spice greatly increases its surface area and so increases the rates of oxidation and evaporation. Thus, the flavor is maximized by storing a spice whole and grinding when needed. The shelf life of a whole dry spice is roughly two years; of a ground spice roughly six months. The "flavor life" of
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#1732771889240912-510: A symbol of wealth and social class. The most popular explanation for the love of spices in the Middle Ages is that they were used to preserve meat from spoiling, or to cover up the taste of meat that had already gone off. This compelling but false idea constitutes something of an urban legend, a story so instinctively attractive that mere fact seems unable to wipe it out... Anyone who could afford spices could easily find meat fresher than what city dwellers today buy in their local supermarket. It
988-528: A whole pig cost about the same as a pound of the cheapest spice, pepper. There is also no evidence of such use from contemporary cookbooks: "Old cookbooks make it clear that spices weren't used as a preservative. They typically suggest adding spices toward the end of the cooking process, where they could have no preservative effect whatsoever." Indeed, Cristoforo di Messisbugo suggested in the 16th century that pepper may speed up spoilage. Though some spices have antimicrobial properties in vitro, pepper—by far
1064-418: Is a perennial woody vine growing up to 4 m (13 ft) in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground. The leaves are alternate, entire, 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) long and 3 to 6 cm (1.2 to 2.4 in) across. The flowers are small, produced on pendulous spikes 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) long at
1140-522: Is easily found and readily available. In New Zealand , the seeds of kawakawa ( Piper excelsum ), a relative of black pepper , are sometimes used as pepper; the leaves of Pseudowintera colorata ("mountain horopito") are another replacement for pepper. Several plants in the United States are also used as pepper substitutes, such as field pepperwort , least pepperwort , shepherd's purse , horseradish , and field pennycress . The pepper plant
1216-454: Is employer for 1300 workers. Kamis is Polish market leader in the production of spices. The division of the company dealing with spices and mustard was sold to U.S.-based spice manufacturer McCormick & Company in 2011. Spice In the culinary arts , a spice is any seed , fruit , root , bark , or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs , which are
1292-547: Is known to cause sneezing . Some sources say that piperine, a substance present in black pepper, irritates the nostrils, causing the sneezing. Few, if any, controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question. One tablespoon (6 grams) of ground black pepper contains moderate amounts of vitamin K (13% of the daily value or DV), iron (10% DV), and manganese (18% DV), with trace amounts of other essential nutrients , protein , and dietary fibre . Pepper gets its spicy heat mostly from piperine derived from both
1368-633: Is most closely related to other Asian species such as P. caninum . Wild pepper grows in the Western Ghats region of India . Into the 19th century, the forests contained expansive wild pepper vines, as recorded by the Scottish physician Francis Buchanan (also a botanist and geographer) in his book A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (Volume III). However, deforestation resulted in wild pepper growing in more limited forest patches from Goa to Kerala , with
1444-519: Is native to the Malabar Coast of India , and the Malabar pepper is extensively cultivated there and in other tropical regions. Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine . Black pepper is the world's most traded spice , and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to
1520-527: Is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces ", and further moralizes on pepper: It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being
1596-505: Is often claimed that spices were used either as food preservatives or to mask the taste of spoiled meat , especially in the European Middle Ages . This is false. In fact, spices are rather ineffective as preservatives as compared to salting , smoking , pickling , or drying , and are ineffective in covering the taste of spoiled meat. Moreover, spices have always been comparatively expensive: in 15th century Oxford,
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#17327718892401672-525: Is possible that black pepper was known in China in the second century BCE, if poetic reports regarding an explorer named Tang Meng (唐蒙) are correct. Sent by Emperor Wu to what is now south-west China, Tang Meng is said to have come across something called jujiang or "sauce-betel". He was told it came from the markets of Shu , an area in what is now the Sichuan province. The traditional view among historians
1748-736: Is reflected culturally through its cuisine . Historically, the spice trade developed throughout the Indian subcontinent as well as in East Asia and the Middle East . Europe's demand for spices was among the economic and cultural factors that encouraged exploration in the early modern period . The word spice originated in Middle English , from the Old French words espece , espis(c)e , and espis(c)e . According to
1824-527: Is that "sauce-betel" is a sauce made from betel leaves, but arguments have been made that it actually refers to pepper, either long or black. In the third century CE, black pepper made its first definite appearance in Chinese texts, as hujiao or "foreign pepper". It does not appear to have been widely known at the time, failing to appear in a fourth-century work describing a wide variety of spices from beyond China's southern border, including long pepper. By
1900-490: Is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning . The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter (fresh and fully mature), dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed . Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper , or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds). Black pepper
1976-664: The Middle English Dictionary , the Old French words came from Anglo-French spece ; according to Merriam Webster , the Old-French words came from Anglo-French espece, and espis . Both publications agree that the Anglo-French words are derived from Latin species . Middle English spice had its first known use as a noun in the 13th century. The spice trade developed throughout
2052-763: The Banda Islands in Southeast Asia , was introduced to Europe in the 6th century BCE. The Romans had cloves in the 1st century CE, as Pliny the Elder wrote about them. Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the Middle Ages , the most common being black pepper , cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia ), cumin , nutmeg , ginger, and cloves . Given medieval medicine's main theory of humorism , spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food, on
2128-472: The Brazilian pepper tree , Schinus terebinthifolius , plants from a different family ( Anacardiaceae ). As they are members of the cashew family, they may cause allergic reactions , including anaphylaxis , for persons with a tree nut allergy . The bark of Drimys winteri ("canelo" or "winter's bark") is used as a substitute for pepper in cold and temperate regions of Chile and Argentina , where it
2204-483: The Chera Dynasty , famous for exporting black pepper and various other spices, gets mentioned in a number of classical historical sources for its trade with Roman Empire , Egypt , Mesopotamia , Levant , and Yemen . Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money . The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems that recognize
2280-884: The Indian subcontinent and Middle East by 2000 BCE with cinnamon and black pepper , and in East Asia with herbs and pepper. The Egyptians used herbs for cuisine and mummification . Their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. Cloves were used in Mesopotamia by 1700 BCE. The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian cultures. The Ebers Papyrus from early Egypt dating from 1550 BCE describes some eight hundred different herbal medicinal remedies and numerous medicinal procedures. By 1000 BCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in China , Korea , and India . Early uses were associated with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, and preservation. Indonesian merchants traveled around China, India,
2356-441: The 12th century, however, black pepper had become a popular ingredient in the cuisine of the wealthy and powerful, sometimes taking the place of China's native Sichuan pepper (the tongue-numbing dried fruit of an unrelated plant). Marco Polo testifies to pepper's popularity in 13th-century China, when he relates what he is told of its consumption in the city of Kinsay ( Hangzhou ): "... Messer Marco heard it stated by one of
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2432-567: The 12th century. He was specifically looking for spices to put in wine and was not alone among European monarchs at the time to have such a desire for spice. Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, using this position to dominate
2508-496: The 14th century, but the mortar and pestle used earlier for crushing pepper have remained a popular method for centuries, as well. Enhancing the flavour profile of peppercorns (including piperine and essential oils), prior to processing, has been attempted through the postharvest application of ultraviolet-C light (UV-C). [REDACTED] Media related to Piper nigrum at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] Data related to Piper nigrum at Wikispecies [REDACTED] Pepper at
2584-525: The 16th century. Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II , placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE. Little else is known about the use of pepper in ancient Egypt and how it reached the Nile from the Malabar Coast of South Asia. Pepper (both long and black) was known in Greece at least as early as the fourth century BCE, though it
2660-700: The Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Councils of State. Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages – and the monopoly on the trade held by Venice – was one of the inducements that led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to reach India by sailing around Africa (see Age of Discovery ); asked by Arabs in Calicut (who spoke Spanish and Italian) why they had come, his representative replied, "we seek Christians and spices". Though this first trip to India by way of
2736-491: The Danish-Norwegian flagship, Gribshunden , which sank in the summer of 1495. In 2021, archaeologists recovered more than 2000 peppercorns from the wreck, along with a variety of other spices and exotic foodstuffs including clove, ginger, saffron, and almond. The ship was carrying King Hans to a political summit at the time of its loss. The spices were likely intended for feasts at the summit, which would have included
2812-460: The Dutch in the period 1661–1663.7 As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means. Today, pepper accounts for one-fifth of the world's spice trade. It
2888-509: The Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs." During the course of the Ming treasure voyages in the early 15th century, Admiral Zheng He and his expeditionary fleets returned with such a large amount of black pepper that the once-costly luxury became
2964-798: The Greek geographer Strabo , the early empire sent a fleet of around 120 ships on an annual trip to India and back. The fleet timed its travel across the Arabian Sea to take advantage of the predictable monsoon winds. Returning from India, the ships travelled up the Red Sea , from where the cargo was carried overland or via the Nile-Red Sea canal to the Nile River, barged to Alexandria , and shipped from there to Italy and Rome. The rough geographical outlines of this same trade route would dominate
3040-660: The Malabar area also served as a stop-off point for much of the trade in other spices from farther east in the Indian Ocean. The Maluku Islands, historically known as the "Spice Islands," are a region in Indonesia known for producing nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper, and were a major source of these spices in the world. The presence of these spices in the Maluku Islands sparked European interest to buy them directly in
3116-523: The Mediterranean, the trade was largely monopolized by Italian powers, especially Venice and Genoa . The rise of these city-states was funded in large part by the spice trade. A riddle authored by Saint Aldhelm , a seventh-century Bishop of Sherborne , sheds some light on black pepper's role in England at that time: I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover, Yet within I bear
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3192-425: The Middle Ages, pepper was a luxury item , affordable only to the wealthy, who certainly had unspoiled meat available, as well. In addition, people of the time certainly knew that eating spoiled food would make them sick. Similarly, the belief that pepper was widely used as a preservative is questionable; it is true that piperine , the compound that gives pepper its spiciness, has some antimicrobial properties, but at
3268-459: The Middle East, and the east coast of Africa. Arab merchants facilitated the routes through the Middle East and India. This resulted in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria being the main trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade was the monsoon winds (40 CE). Sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western European consumers gradually replaced
3344-581: The New World and of chili peppers . Chili peppers—some of which, when dried, are similar in shape and taste to long pepper—were easier to grow in a variety of locations more convenient to Europe. Before the 16th century, pepper was being grown in Java , Sunda , Sumatra , Madagascar , Malaysia, and everywhere in Southeast Asia. These areas traded mainly with China, or used the pepper locally. Ports in
3420-598: The New World came new spices, including allspice , chili peppers , vanilla , and chocolate . This development kept the spice trade, with the Americas as a latecomer with their new seasonings, profitable well into the 19th century. Spices are primarily used as food flavoring or to create variety. They are also used to perfume cosmetics and incense . At various periods, many spices were used in herbal medicine . Finally, since they can be expensive, rare and exotic commodities, their conspicuous consumption has often been
3496-762: The Portuguese to take control of the sea routes to India. In 1506, he took the island of Socotra in the mouth of the Red Sea and, in 1507, Ormuz in the Persian Gulf . Since becoming the viceroy of the Indies , he took Goa in India in 1510, and Malacca on the Malay Peninsula in 1511. The Portuguese could now trade directly with Siam , China , and the Maluku Islands . With the discovery of
3572-476: The Roman Empire , that pepper was "a favorite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery". Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as collateral or even currency. The taste for pepper (or the appreciation of its monetary value) was passed on to those who would see Rome fall. Alaric , king of the Visigoths , included 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom he demanded from Rome when he besieged
3648-415: The United States during fiscal years 2007–2009 showed about 7% of the shipments were contaminated by Salmonella bacteria, some of it antibiotic-resistant. As most spices are cooked before being served salmonella contamination often has no effect, but some spices, particularly pepper, are often eaten raw and are present at the table for convenient use. Shipments from Mexico and India, a major producer, were
3724-403: The base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is fully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the fruits lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped off the spikes. Black pepper is native either to Southeast Asia or South Asia . Within the genus Piper , it
3800-446: The berries, which may also yield an essential oil by extraction . White pepper consists solely of the seed of the ripe fruit of the pepper plant, with the thin darker-coloured skin (flesh) of the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by a process known as retting , where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week so the flesh of the peppercorn softens and decomposes ; rubbing then removes what remains of
3876-533: The chemical compound piperine , which is a different kind of spiciness from that of capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers . It is ubiquitous in the Western world as a seasoning , and is often paired with salt and available on dining tables in shakers or mills . The word pepper derives from Old English pipor , Latin piper , and Greek : πέπερι . The Greek likely derives from Dravidian pippali , meaning "long pepper". Sanskrit pippali shares
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#17327718892403952-622: The city in the fifth century. After the fall of Rome, others took over the middle legs of the spice trade , first the Persians and then the Arabs ; Innes Miller cites the account of Cosmas Indicopleustes , who travelled east to India, as proof that "pepper was still being exported from India in the sixth century". By the end of the Early Middle Ages , the central portions of the spice trade were firmly under Islamic control. Once into
4028-400: The concentrations present when pepper is used as a spice, the effect is small. Salt is a much more effective preservative, and salt-cured meats were common fare, especially in winter. However, pepper and other spices certainly played a role in improving the taste of long-preserved meats. Archaeological evidence of pepper consumption in late medieval Northern Europe comes from excavations on
4104-492: The fermentation and other processing removes the fruit layer (which also contains some of the spicy piperine). Other flavours also commonly develop in this process, some of which are described as off-flavours when in excess: Primarily 3-methylindole (pig manure-like), 4-methylphenol (horse manure), 3-methylphenol (phenolic), and butyric acid (cheese). The aroma of pepper is attributed to rotundone (3,4,5,6,7,8-Hexahydro-3α,8α-dimethyl-5α-(1-methylethenyl) azulene -1(2H)-one),
4180-529: The fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Sometimes the outer layer is removed from the seed through other mechanical, chemical, or biological methods. Ground white pepper is commonly used in Chinese , Thai , and Portuguese cuisines . It finds occasional use in other cuisines in salads, light-coloured sauces, and mashed potatoes as a substitute for black pepper, because black pepper would visibly stand out. However, white pepper lacks certain compounds present in
4256-572: The items in Rome, and, elsewhere, he cites a figure of 100 million sesterces. Black pepper was a well-known and widespread, if expensive, seasoning in the Roman Empire. Apicius ' De re coquinaria , a third-century cookbook probably based at least partly on one from the first century CE, includes pepper in a majority of its recipes. Edward Gibbon wrote, in The History of the Decline and Fall of
4332-745: The land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Middle East Arab caravans. Spices were prominent enough in the ancient world that they are mentioned in the Old Testament . In Genesis , Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants. In Exodus , manna is described as being similar to coriander in appearance. In the Song of Solomon , the male narrator compares his beloved to many saffron, cinnamon, and other spices. The ancient Indian epic Ramayana mentions cloves. Historians believe that nutmeg , which originates from
4408-588: The leaf nodes, the spikes lengthening up to 7 to 15 cm (2.8 to 5.9 in) as the fruit matures. Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well-drained, and rich in organic matter. The vines do not do well over an altitude of 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as
4484-530: The leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish . Spices are sometimes used in medicine , religious rituals , cosmetics , or perfume production. They are usually classified into spices, spice seeds, and herbal categories. For example, vanilla is commonly used as an ingredient in fragrance manufacturing. Plant-based sweeteners such as sugar are not considered spices. Spices may be used fresh and whole, after drying, grating, chopping, crushing, or grinding, or by extraction into
4560-433: The longest shelf life, so it can be purchased and stored in larger amounts, making it cheaper on a per-serving basis. A fresh spice, such as ginger , is usually more flavorful than its dried form, but fresh spices are more expensive and have a much shorter shelf life. There is not enough clinical evidence to indicate that consuming spices affects human health. India contributes to 75% of global spice production. This
4636-485: The most common spice—is relatively ineffective, and in any case, salt, which is far cheaper, is also far more effective. A mortar and pestle is the classic set of tools for grinding a whole spice. Less labor-intensive tools are more common now: a microplane or fine grater can be used to grind small amounts; a coffee grinder is useful for larger amounts. A frequently used spice such as black pepper may merit storage in its own hand grinder or mill . The flavor of
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#17327718892404712-532: The most frequently contaminated. Food irradiation is said to minimize this risk. The International Organization for Standardization addresses spices and condiments , along with related food additives, as part of the International Classification for Standards 67.220 series. Black pepper Black pepper ( Piper nigrum ) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae , cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn ), which
4788-512: The most widely traded spice in the world, accounting for 20% of all spice imports. Black pepper is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE. J. Innes Miller notes that while pepper was grown in southern Thailand and in Malaysia , its most important source was India, particularly the Malabar Coast , in what is now the state of Kerala . The lost ancient port city of Muziris of
4864-619: The neighboring Italian maritime republics and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the Late Middle Ages . The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people. The most exclusive was saffron , used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor. Spices that have now fallen into obscurity in European cuisine include grains of paradise ,
4940-548: The outer fruit and the seed. Black pepper contains between 4.6 and 9.7% piperine by mass, and white pepper slightly more than that. Refined piperine, by weight, is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin found in chili peppers . The outer fruit layer, left on black pepper, also contains aroma -contributing terpenes , including germacrene (11%), limonene (10%), pinene (10%), alpha-phellandrene (9%), and beta-caryophyllene (7%), which give citrusy, woody, and floral notes. These scents are mostly missing in white pepper, as
5016-530: The outer layer of the drupe, resulting in a different overall flavour. Green pepper, like black pepper, is made from unripe drupes. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a way that retains the green colour, such as with sulfur dioxide , canning , or freeze-drying . Pickled peppercorns, also green, are unripe drupes preserved in brine or vinegar . Fresh, unpreserved green pepper drupes are used in some cuisines like Thai cuisine and Tamil cuisine . Their flavour has been described as "spicy and fresh", with
5092-608: The pepper market in India, he was able to secure peppers for a much cheaper price than the ones demanded by Venice . At around the same time, Christopher Columbus returned from the New World . He described to investors the new spices available there. Another source of competition in the spice trade during the 15th and 16th centuries was the Ragusans from the maritime republic of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia. The military prowess of Afonso de Albuquerque (1453–1515) allowed
5168-640: The pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure , and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils, the young plants require watering every other day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and then typically for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars , selected both for yield and quality of fruit. A single stem bears 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two fruits at
5244-442: The pepper trade into Europe for a millennium and a half to come. With ships sailing directly to the Malabar coast, Malabar black pepper was now travelling a shorter trade route than long pepper, and the prices reflected it. Pliny the Elder 's Natural History tells us the prices in Rome around 77 CE: "Long pepper ... is 15 denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four." Pliny also complains, "There
5320-416: The pepper, accelerating enzymes that cause browning during drying. The pepper drupes can also be dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper skin around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer containing melanoidin . Once dry, the spice is called black peppercorn. After the peppercorns are dried, pepper powder for culinary uses is obtained by crushing
5396-526: The same meaning. In the 16th century, people began using pepper to also mean the New World chili pepper (genus Capsicum ), which is not closely related. Processed peppercorns come in a variety of colours, any one of which may be used in food preparation, especially common peppercorn sauce . Black pepper is produced from the still-green, unripe drupe of the pepper plant. The drupes are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in
5472-412: The southern tip of Africa was only a modest success, the Portuguese quickly returned in greater numbers and eventually gained much greater control of trade on the Arabian Sea. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas granted Portugal exclusive rights to the half of the world where black pepper originated. However, the Portuguese monopolized the spice trade for 150 years. Portuguese even became the lingua franca of
5548-409: The term " peppercorn rent " as a token payment for something that is, essentially, a gift. The ancient history of black pepper is often interlinked with (and confused with) that of long pepper , the dried fruit of closely related Piper longum . The Romans knew of both and often referred to either as just piper . In fact, the popularity of long pepper did not entirely decline until the discovery of
5624-624: The then known world. The spice trade made Portugal rich. However in the 17th century, the Portuguese lost most of their valuable Indian Ocean trade to the Dutch and the English , who, taking advantage of the Spanish rule over Portugal during the Iberian Union (1580–1640), occupied by force almost all Portuguese interests in the area. The pepper ports of Malabar began to trade increasingly with
5700-549: The wild source gradually decreasing as the quality and yield of the cultivated variety improved. No successful grafting of commercial pepper on wild pepper has been achieved to date. In 2020, Vietnam was the world's largest producer and exporter of black peppercorns, producing 270,192 tonnes or 36% of the world total (table). Other major producers were Brazil , Indonesia , India , Sri Lanka , China , and Malaysia . Global pepper production varies annually according to crop management, disease, and weather. Peppercorns are among
5776-536: Was probably an uncommon and expensive item that only the very rich could afford. By the time of the early Roman Empire , especially after Rome's conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, open-ocean crossing of the Arabian Sea direct to Chera dynasty southern India 's Malabar Coast was near routine. Details of this trading across the Indian Ocean have been passed down in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea . According to
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