Want some cracked pepper on that?

Black pepper – Piper nigrum. It lives on our kitchen table next to salt and adds a deliciously spicy (or you could say peppery!) flavour to our food. But how much you actually know about it? This week, I will be explaining a little bit more about this spice to you in regards to its benefits to our health.

A short history of pepper: Pepper is thought to be originated from India where is has been used in traditional Indian medicine (Ayurvedic medicine) for thousands of years. In India it is used as a home remedy as a powder or in a decoction (brewed with hot water) for relief from sore throats, throat congestion and coughs.

It was one of the most highly regarded trade goods within Asia, and it was known as ‘black gold’ and was often used in place of money. Only the rich people of ancient Greece could afford to use it, and black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Rameses II. Be grateful that we can readily buy this spice! 

Pepper was one of the medicines which were allowed to be carried by Buddhist monks. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) uses pepper in patterns of cold, as it is energetically warming and stimulates a warming flow of energy to the body, particularly in the abdomen.  It is used as a diaphoretic (helps promote sweating) when people have colds and its hot pungent flavour benefits the lungs and protect against colds and flus.

It is also used to help treat patients with diarrhoea – crack 6-8 peppercorns into freshly boiled water and allow it to steep for 10 minutes. It really works! It can also be used for bowel pains in a congee (a simple rice soup which is easily digested and nourishing when you are debilitated).

'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing. — Alice in Wonderland (1865). Pepper has been associated with causing people to sneeze heavily, why is that? Pepper contains a constituent known as piperine, which is thought to be the main culprit for the sneezing, the spicy quality to pepper and its other amazing uses. Piperine has been found to have a protective effect upon liver cells and also increases the absorption of getting nutrients into the body.

Black pepper also contains some important vitamins and minerals, including vanadium, chromium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron and vitamin K. So make sure you put some cracked pepper on your vegies to get the most out of their goodness!

There are different coloured peppercorns around, are they all the same?

Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe drupes (fruit) of the pepper plant. They are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The drupes are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer.

White pepper actually comes from the same plant as black peppercorns, but these peppercorns have been allowed to fully ripen before having the black outer husks removed. White peppercorns have more piperine than black, but a much milder flavour.

Green pepper, like black, is made from the unripe drupes. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a way that retains the green color, such as treatment with sulfur dioxide, canning or freeze-drying.

Orange or red pepper usually consists of ripe red pepper 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 peppers are from a completely different plant, the  Peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle or or its relative the Brazilian pepper tree, Schinus terebinthifolius.

Although a rainbow peppermill can look pretty, stick to black or white peppercorns to reduce your intake of chemically treated foods.

So how do we use pepper? It can be used ground or cracked on savoury dishes, either during the cooking process or upon serving. How much you add is up to you and how much spice you can handle on and in your food. Soups, salads, vegies, meats, dips, fish, sandwiches, eggs... all get a new flavour when you add a few turns of the pepper mill to them!

-Laura x