Black
pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in
the family Piperaceae, cultivated
for its fruit (the peppercorn), which
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 is native to the Malabar Coast[3][4] 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,[5] and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines
around the world. Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spicy
from the 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.
Etymology
The
word pepper derives from Old English pipor, Latin piper,
and Greek: πέπερι. The Greek
likely derives from Dravidian pippali,
meaning "long pepper".[7] Sanskrit pippali shares
the same meaning.[6]
In
the 16th century, people began using pepper to also mean
the New World chili pepper (genus Capsicum), which is not closely related.
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