Peppercorns

What is the botanical origin of pepper?

The most widely used spice in the world, Piper nigrum, comes from the west coast of Kerala (South West India).

It is a vine that can reach a height of 10 meters thanks to its aerial roots. Its broad green leaves are arranged alternately. The small flowers are in slender, dense spikes of about 40-50 flowers each. The fruits, sometimes called peppercorns, are drupes about 3–5 mm in diameter. They turn yellowish-red when ripe and carry a single seed within them.

What do all these “peppers” have in common?

What allows them to be placed in a single culinary family is quite simply their ability to add spiciness and heat to the mouth. And yet they are not the same botanical families.

You can clearly distinguish the peppers from the peppers. Indeed, peppers are much more powerful and persistent than peppers.

So why do peppers sting?

The notion of spiciness is expressed through several chemical elements found in all these peppers: Piperine, sanshools (Alpha hydroxy sanshool and alpha sanshool) or Gingerol

Piperine: you have certainly heard of this chemical compound: it is responsible for the heat of a pepper. It is present in all peppers of the Piper genus. (including the pepper we all know, black pepper)

The Sanshools (Alpha hydroxy sanshool and alpha sanshool): here it is the opposite, they are probably unknown to you. However, if you have tasted Sichuan Pepper, it is these two chemical compounds present in this pepper that are responsible for both the sensation of heat and the spiciness leading to a slight numbness of the tongue and the lips of our mouth (phenomenon of paresthesia). For those who know them, the effect is similar when tasting Brèdes Mafanes or Sichuan buttons. (although in this plant it is Spilanthol causing paresthesia)

Gingerol: This chemical compound found in ginger brings a peppery and pungent notion present in the pink peppercorn of Madagascar (these are the pink grains found in mixtures of several peppers)

You will have understood that we place in the same family, which we will call Peppers, many botanical species all sharing a common point: they bring taste, spice up our dishes and give a feeling of heat (much less than chilli)

Peppers or fake peppers?

The "Real peppers": Peppers of the Piper genus are the best known that we could call "Real peppers" as opposed to the others. It is a major genre and the piperine is its common point. They have this botanical characteristic of being a vine that clings to trees to grow and gives clusters of berries. There are more than 600 varieties of the genus Piper, only a few are suitable for our culinary uses. They naturally benefit from the designation of pepper.

For the best known, we will recognize Kampot Pepper, Malabar Pepper, Penja Pepper, Karimunda Pepper, Madagascar Pepper, Phu Quoc Pepper, Long Pepper, Cubeb Pepper, etc.

Other peppers: they mainly represent the Zanthoxylum family. From a botanical point of view, it is a tree 3 to 10m high which will give berries which strangely resemble tiny citrus fruits. The reason is very simple: zanthoxylum is a genus belonging to the large family Rutaceae. And in the Rutaceaes we find the citrus genus.

Thus we will find Timur Pepper from Nepal (grapefruit note), Sichuan Pepper (slightly lemony), Peaks Pepper (leather and tangerine notes), Sansho Pepper (lemongrass note), etc.

There are also other botanical families represented by:

Pink Berry or Pink Pepper from Madagascar (Genus Schinus), Jamaican Pepper (Genus Pimenta), Tasmanian Pepper (Genus Lindera), Maniguette or Paradise Pepper (Aframomum melegueta) etc…

Local, native or wild?

Terroir pepper: Like great wines, certain peppers are distinguished by their terroirs, their climates and the know-how of the producers. All these elements influence the organoleptic characteristics of the pepper harvested. For example, we will find Kampot Pepper, Penja Pepper, Phu Quoc Pepper, etc. In this notion we will integrate cultivars, such as grape varieties, such as the famous Karimunda Pepper (old variety of pepper)

Pepper of origins: Here we will make the distinction between the terroir (geographic zone or micro zone) with the notion of region or even country which will give an origin. Such as Madagascar Pepper, Kerala Pepper, Putumayo Pepper, etc…

Wild pepper: The best known of them is undoubtedly the wild Voatsiperifery pepper from Madagascar (endemic and wild variety). These are uncultivated varieties growing in the wild that are harvested. You can find peppers of the genus Piper: Voatsiperifery wild pepper (Piper Borbonense) or wild Guinea pepper (Piper guineense) but also Zanthoxylum: Timur wild pepper from Nepal or Peaks pepper from Vietnam.

The colors of pepper: Black, White, Green, Yellow or Red Pepper?

Who is affected by these colors? Only varieties of the piper genus, of which we find the most famous botanical variety, piper nigrum. It is the black pepper found in all kitchens.

What does the color of pepper correspond to? The fruit of the pepper plant, which is a climbing vine, is a berry that is found on a cluster. The colors of the final pepper will depend on when they are picked, therefore on their maturity and the transformation that follows.

Green pepper: We pick the green grains, they are then either soaked in brine to give the green pepper, or dried “quickly” to fix the green color.

Black Pepper: This is the green pepper that is picked but left to air dry after being washed in water. By oxidizing in the air it turns black naturally.

Yellow Pepper: These are the few yellow grains that are picked just before their full maturity. They are washed with water and the skin removed.

Red Pepper: This is the pepper that is picked when fully ripe.

White Pepper: This is black pepper from which the skin has been removed.

The whole story of pepper, or how this trade shaped the world.

Of antiquity :

Archaeological evidence for pepper dates back to at least 2000 BC. It is known that pepper was exported during this period, but by what means and to what extent remains a mystery. Indeed traces of a probable ancient trade in pepper from India to Egypt have been discovered the presence of peppercorns both in the nostrils and in the belly of Ramses the Great (1303-1213 BC) (Bulletins and Memoirs of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, Radiochromodensitographic study on Ramses conducted by Lichtenberg and Thuilliez in 1981)

From the 40s AD, the Romans developed a flourishing trade in spices and especially peppers. From the southwest coast of India taking advantage of the monsoon winds, they imported cinnamon, frankincense oil and pepper. Alexandria was at the time the commercial center of this trade.

Although the book was written a few centuries after his death, the collection of Apicius, a famous gastronome from the beginning of the 1st century, describes a multitude of Roman recipes containing spices, including pepper.

In September 408, Alaric 1st, King of the Visigoths and his army besieged Rome. The exhausted and starving Romans eventually surrendered by paying a ransom. The price to be paid was 2,500 kg of gold, 15,000 kg of silver, 4,000 silk robes, 3,000 skins and 1,500 kg of pepper. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaric_Ier)

In the middle Ages :

After the fall of the Roman Empire and from the 7th century the Arabs organized themselves to resume the spice trade. In order to maintain their monopoly they invented a whole myth (Spices and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman) according to which pepper was cultivated in India in valleys infested with snakes. It was then necessary to burn the trees in order to make the snakes disappear. The fire then gave the black color of the skin of the peppercorns.

This shows the importance already at that time of this trade where we totally protected its sources!

The pepper trade became more and more flourishing from the 10th century to spread throughout Europe. With this increase in demand, prices soared and taxes, rents or dowries were sometimes paid in pepper. For example, King Ethelred II of England (978-1016) demanded 10 pounds of pepper from German spice traders before letting them do business in London. (Spice Crop E.A Weiss)

With the rise of the bourgeoisie in the Middle Ages, having pepper was part of the "standing" of the time. Thus this pressure increased demand and therefore further increased prices. This forced the strongholds to develop the trade in spices, including pepper. In the 14th century, the Genoese massively imported pepper from Alexandria. Exactly between 1367 and 1371 over 40% by value of Genoa's imports were pepper. (Spice and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman)

The Venetians also began to trade with pepper. They increased the sale price of pepper by more than 40% during the 15th century. (Spice and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman)

At that time the sources of peppers came from Constantinople, Syria, Cyprus and Alexandria.

Under the impulse of the Portuguese King, of Henry the navigator who pushed to develop maritime trade, Vasco da Gama went to seek a direct maritime route in India, discovered in 1497, in order to short-circuit the monopoly of the Arabs. His goal was to find "Christians and spices"

From the 15th century the Portuguese dominated the pepper trade. It is said that between 1500 and 1600 Portugal imported more than 2000 tons of pepper per year! (Spice Crop E.A Weiss)

The Renaissance :

Portugal subsequently quickly lost control of its imports as their military and political authority was weak in these lands. Thus the Dutch from the 16th century became the main player in the import and trade of spices, including pepper. During the "golden century" of Holland, they multiplied the counters through their Dutch East India Company (VOC) in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Java.

The price of pepper was then still very high, reaching 20 to 30 g of silver for 1 kg of pepper.

When the British Empire established itself in the tropics in the 17th and 18th centuries, it finally took control of the spice trade with, in particular, the company: the British East India Company, supported by its dominant military forces.

Modern times :

With the fall of the English Empire, with the industrial revolution which facilitated access to communication routes (sea and land routes), with the development of spice and pepper crops all over the world, the course pepper and spices dropped noticeably. Pepper and spices became accessible to as many people as possible.

In memory we will have inherited some expressions such as "Cher comme pepper" or "pay in spices" which gave "pay in cash".