'Black Pepper' is the King of Spices

Black pepper is a popular spice, which is definitely used in daily food in some form or another. From a trade perspective, it is called the "king of spices" because its trade is the highest in the context of spices. India is a major country that earns foreign exchange by exporting black pepper, which is why it has been named "India's black gold" in our country.

What is black pepper? Black pepper is the unripe but dried fruit of a vine or shrub called Piper nigrum, which is mainly found in the warm and humid regions of South India, especially in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Pondicherry. Found wild in the hills of southwestern India, it is a very old crop of India, which is round in shape, ranges from red-brown to black in color, and has a pungent, strong aroma. There are many varieties of black pepper in world trade, of which about 25 varieties of black pepper are grown in India. The peppers grown in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand, and other tropical countries are called by various names, and their names are based on their place of origin or the ports where they are grown, such as Tellicherry, Malabar, Alleppey (Kerala), Lampong, Saigon, Penang, and Singapore, etc.

Types of black pepper Besides black pepper, it is also processed and prepared in white and green colors, which are commonly known in the market as black pepper, white pepper, and green pepper. When the fruits of black pepper are fully ripe and yellow, they are dried in the sun. When fully dried, the color of the fruits turns from dark brown to black, and they shrink. But to prepare white pepper, after the fruits ripen, the outer skin, the pericarp, is removed before or after drying to prepare white pepper. Whereas green pepper is sold by picking the tender green unripe spikes of black pepper, putting them in a salt solution, and packing them in cans. It is used for eating with pickles, vinegar, oil, salads, and other pickling items like raw green mangoes, ginger, and green chilies, etc.

Medicinal properties of black pepper Besides piperine, black pepper contains special pungent chemicals like chavicine, piperidine, and piperitine, which not only give it a pungent taste but also work as fat burners in the body. Its vitamin and mineral content includes nutritional elements like calcium, iron, phosphorus, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, protein, and niacin, along with some amount of nitrogen and amino acids, which enhance its anti-inflammatory, digestive, pain-reliever, and memory-enhancer properties, making its consumption beneficial in many ways from a health perspective. Besides this, what are the other benefits of black pepper? Let's find out in detail.

1. Black pepper is considered a powerful medicine for various physical ailments. Due to the phytonutrients found in it, especially in high fever and cold-cough, its use causes heavy sweating, which reduces fever, the phlegm accumulated in the chest comes out on its own, and sore throat and runny nose are cured.
2. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, black pepper is used to reduce toothache, gum, and throat swelling.
3. Black pepper also provides relief in arthritis pain and joint pain along with their swelling.
4. Black and white pepper are more nutritious for the brain and are good for the eyes. Due to the antioxidant properties found in it, it is not only beneficial in mental stress but also provides relief in mental diseases and the memory-loss disease Alzheimer's.
5. The anti-bacterial properties present in black pepper not only protect the body and skin from any kind of infection, but due to this special property, it is also used for the preservation of meat and perishable food items.
6. The use of black pepper in food helps in increasing digestion and also provides relief from the problem of gas and acidity because the element piperine found in black pepper is pungent but less inflammatory. It stimulates the digestive enzymes, increasing the flow of saliva and gastric juices. Therefore, people who have problems with indigestion, gas, and heartburn after meals should use only black pepper instead of red chili in their food.
7. Using only black pepper in food instead of red chili and garam masala, and using its extracted oil has been found to be effective in hemorrhoids.
8. Regular use of white pepper with almonds and sugar candy sharpens eyesight and cures vision defects like cataracts.

Uses of black pepper Besides being used as a daily spice in food, black pepper can be consumed in many ways.

1. Black or white pepper should be used to balance the taste of cooked food.
2. Only black pepper should be used in soups and salads.
3. The mixture of black pepper in pickles, ketchup, sauces, and mayonnaise, etc., doubles their taste.
4. Black and white pepper powder, along with their oil, are also widely used to make sausages, canned foods, meat, eggs, and beverages delicious and digestible.
5. Licking a mixture of black and white pepper powder with honey not only cures many minor ailments like cough, cold, and mild fever but also relieves physical and mental fatigue, and the body becomes full of agility and energy.
6. Chewing black or white peppercorns with basil, cinnamon, ginger powder, jaggery, cloves, and dry fruits provides benefits in many diseases. For example, keeping 4-5 basil leaves with 4-5 black peppercorns in the mouth and sucking their juice reduces fever. Chewing black peppercorns with jaggery cures cold, cough, and phlegm. Chewing black peppercorns with ginger powder or ginger cures sore throat and cough. Pressing black pepper with a clove between the teeth relieves tooth and gum pain. The use of black pepper with dry fruits protects from the cold in winter.
7. Drinking a decoction of basil, cloves, ginger, and black pepper with jaggery increases the body's immunity.
8. Herbal tea can be made by boiling black pepper with ginger, adding a piece of lemon, a spoonful of honey, and 4-5 basil leaves, which is beneficial for health and digestion.
9. Mix 10 grams of white pepper powder with 50-50 grams of almond and fennel powder and keep it. Taking half a spoonful in the morning and evening with warm water or milk improves eyesight and is also beneficial in cataracts.
10. If there is a problem of indigestion and gas in the body, drinking a glass of thin yogurt lassi with a quarter spoonful of black pepper powder, a pinch of black salt, and black cumin provides immediate relief. Besides this, adding black pepper powder to yogurt or raita not only enhances the taste of the yogurt but also increases appetite and reduces the cold nature of the yogurt.

How to identify adulteration in black pepper? Black pepper, whether in powder or whole form, is adulterated. In ground pepper, besides bad grains, the dust, waste, stem, and peel of black pepper, as well as papaya seeds, are also ground. This affects its taste as well as its medicinal properties. Therefore, as far as possible, one should buy clean and whole black pepper and prepare its powder at home. To identify papaya seeds in whole peppers, one should chew some seeds. While the taste of black peppercorns is pungent and spicy, papaya seeds are tasteless. Besides this, rubbing the seeds between both palms should produce a strong and pungent smell. If the smell is less, it means the peppers are adulterated. The grains of dried papaya seeds are lighter, smaller, and less dark in color than black peppercorns, and sometimes their peel also comes off on rubbing. Besides this, if there is any doubt, the grains can be broken into two pieces. A line is visible on the inside of the papaya seeds, whereas a hole is visible in the middle of the black pepper, because papaya seeds are dicots and black peppercorns are monocots.