Black pepper

Listing ID #3804336

Get Latest Price

Supply Type Manufacturer, Exporter, Supplier
Preferred Buyer Location All over the world

Introduction Known as the ‘king of spices’, black pepper has remained the most precious and valuable form of spices in the world. It is the 3rd most added ingredient in food among the wide range....

View More Details

Send Enquiry

Product Details

Introduction
Known as the ‘king of spices’, black pepper has remained the most precious and valuable form of spices in the world. It is the 3rd most added ingredient in food among the wide range of spices. India is one of the largest producers of black pepper, after China and Vietnam. Black pepper has played a pivotal role in India’s international trade and it is said that the Europeans came to India primarily for this very spice. A wide variety of black pepper is traded at an international level, with India as one of the top five exporters of black pepper, along with Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and Malaysia.

What is Black Pepper?
Black pepper is defined as a small and unripe fruit of Piper Nigrum, a weak climbing plant, which is dried to be used in the form of spice and seasoning. One of the earliest and the most widely used spices, it smells extremely pungent. In India, its production is largely concentrated in South India and other tropical regions. It is derived from the vine of Piper Nigrum. To get black pepper, the berries from the plant are picked when they are still not fully ripe, fermented and then dried in the sun till the time they dehydrate and turn brownish-black in colour.

Etymology of Black Pepper
The term ‘pepper’ was derived from the Sanskrit word ‘pippali’. From this Sanskrit term came the Greek word ‘peperi’ and the Latin term ‘piper’. These two terms primarily referred to black pepper instead of long pepper. In Hindi, it is known by the name of ‘kali mirch’.

Constituents of Black Pepper
Black Pepper has a sharp and penetrating aroma and it tastes extremely pungent and spicy. The pungent taste is primarily due to the presence of two alkaloids in the pepper, namely pipperine and piperidine. It is also slightly tangy in taste due to certain specific plant resins that can be found in the seeds of the plant.

The presence of monoterpenes like sabinene, beta-pinene, limonene, terpinene, alpha-pinene, myrcene, delta-3-carene and monoterpene derivatives are largely responsible for the pungent and hot aroma that comes from the black pepper. It also contains 3% essential oil, with about 20% of this essential oil being made up of volatile oil like beta-caryophyllene, humulene, beta-bisabolone and caryophyllene ketone. Apart from these basic ingredients, black pepper also contains about 8% to 14% moisture, 1.55% to 2.60% nitrogen and 28% to 49% starch which is obtained by acid hydrolysis.

History of Black Pepper
Black pepper is one of the first form of spices to have been cultivated since pre-historic times. It has been addressed as a master spice because it has the ability of being stored for years without losing its flavor or aroma. The importance of black pepper can be judged from the fact that in the ancient times, it was used as a form of currency to pay taxes, dowry, rent, etc. In ancient times, black pepper was found in the nostrils of the Ramesses II, the third Egyptian pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty. The black pepper was placed there to mummify his corpse as part of the Egyptian ritual.

In the Middle Ages, it was used as a means to conceal the foul smell of meat. Black pepper is known to be a native to India and has been used since 2000 BCE. Its production was primarily concentrated in the Malabar coast of Kerala in India. After the Middle Ages, black pepper traveled from this Malabar Coast to Europe, North Africa and Middle East. Malaysia and Indonesia have been growing black pepper for the last 2000 years. The importance of black pepper was one of the many important reasons that attracted the Europeans to come to India.

Tell us your Buy Requirement to Get Instant Response