Black Pepper

Piper nigrum

P. N. Ravindran

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2000
• eBook ISBN: 9781135295691
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Black Pepper is the first monograph on this important and most widely used spice. This volume includes chapters on all aspects of the crops' botany; crop improvement, agronomy, chemistry, post-harvest technology, processing, diseases, insect pests, marketing, economy and uses. All the available information has been collected and presented by expert

1.
INTRODUCTION

P.N.RAVINDRAN Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode-673012, Kerala, India

Black Pepper, known as the King of Spices, is the most important and most widely used spice in the world. The black pepper of commerce is the dried, mature fruits (commonly called berries) of the tropical, perennial climbing plant Piper nigrum L., which belongs to the family Piperaceae. Black pepper (hereafter the name pepper is used to mean black pepper) is a woody climber, grown in the South Western region of India, comprising of the states of Kerala, parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, the entire region once known as Malabar, a name now used restrictively to mean only the northern part of Kerala. The humid tropical evergreen forests bordering the Malabar Coast (the Western Ghats, one of the hot spot areas of plant bio-diversity on earth) is the centre of origin and diversity for both the King of Spices (Pepper) and Queen of Spices (Cardamom— Elettaria cardamomum Maton). The Malabar coast was involved in the cultivation and trade of pepper from very early times. From here pepper was taken to Indonesia, Malaysia and subsequently to other pepper growing countries. Currently pepper is grown in twenty six countries* (Table 1).

Black pepper is rightly called the King of Spices, and its position is supreme among spices. This spice with its characteristic pungency and flavour is an ingredient in many food preparations, and at the dining table it is the only spice invariably served. It was used for different purposes by different people in the past, and continue to be so currently and will remain so in future as well. For the civilized western people it is a spice, an essential additive to their food; for the ancient Egyptians it was an ingredient in the embalming mixture; for the ancient Aryans it was a valuable drug, and now for the common Indians pepper is a spice as well as a medicine, a sure cure for cold and fever and a component of many traditional Ayurvedic drugs. Stories richly coloured with imagination were carried by ancient sailors to distant places and its fame reached both Western and Eastern lands.

The white pepper of commerce is also a product from the same pepper plant, produced by removing the pericarp (fruit wall) from ripe pepper fruits, which give the buff coloured seeds—the white pepper. White pepper is preferred in certain countries and also by the elite users because it gives a uniformly dull white powder; while black pepper powder has the black component resulting from the powdered black pericarp. White pepper is traditionally prepared by steeping ripe fruits in water for a few days, rubbing to remove the pericarp; washing and drying. Indonesia is the major producer of white pepper, though small quantities are also produced by other pepper producing countries.

Black pepper was essentially a forest produce in the past, people collected it from forests, where it abounded. The collected pepper was brought to local markets for retail trade with Arab merchants. Domestication of pepper appears to be a much later event. There is, only speculative evidence as to when pepper was introduced to other countries as a domesticated crop. Colonists from India are believed to have introduced pepper cultivation to Indonesia about 100 B.C. (Rosengarten 1973). Many such introductions surely might have taken place subsequently also. The landmarks in the colourful history of pepper are given below.

Landmarks in the History of Pepper (early dates very tentative)

1550 B.C. Pepper referred to in Eber’s papyrus

1500–600 B.C. Panini recorded the use of pepper in spicing wine. Charaka, the famous physician and Susruta, the ancient surgeon, mentioned the use of pepper in medicine, including in the treatment of eye and ear diseases

4th century B.C. Theophrastus described the two kinds of pepper—long pepper and black pepper

1st century A.D. Pliny reported that black pepper came from South India (Malabar) and that the long pepper came from North India. A Chinese envoy visited the Malabar coast in search of pepper.

40 A.D. Rome captured Egypt and the ancient pepper trade came under the control of Romans.

40 A.D. Mariner Hippalus discovered the velocity of wind systems (monsoons) of Indian ocean that made ocean journey to the Indian coast easier.

64 A.D. Pepper described as growing in abundance in south west Asia (?).

40–90 A.D. The Greek Physician, Dioscorides, mentioned the medicinal uses of pepper and long pepper.

176 A.D. Customs duty imposed on black pepper imported into Alexandria

408 A.D. Alaric the Gothic conquered Rome; demanded a ransom of 3000 pounds of pepper. Fall of Rome and Roman influence on spice trade. The Arabs again assumed control over the trade.

540 A.D. The identity of pepper as the fruit of a vine growing in the Malabar coast of India was established.

200 B.C.–700 A.D. Jeanine Auboyar, author of Daily Life in Ancient India— from 200 B.C. to 700 A.D., narrates the collection and marketing of pepper and long pepper in the Malabar and export to Alexandria. The trade was under the control of Arabs.

851 A.D. Chinese traveller Sulaiman visited Kerala coast—recorded the black pepper cultivation and trade with China.

10–11th century Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra, the powerful South Indian Kings, extended their empire to Malay archipelago and to Java-Bali Islands of present day Indonesia. This was probably a route through which pepper plants reached Indonesia and Malaysia.

1154–1189 Reign of Henry II in England and the formation of pepperers guild.

1200 China’s hegemony on pepper trade-large quantities were imported from Malabar coast and Java.

1280 Marcopolo described in detail the pepper growing in Java. 1403–1433 The voyages of Zheng He from China to the Malabar coast, touching many ports in between. Strong trade relationships between the Malabar coast and China. This was probably another route through which pepper plants might have reached the near and south east Asian countries.

1430–1440 Nicolo Contai described the pepper trade in Quilon (Kollam) and Calicut (Kozhikode) of Malabar coast and pepper cultivation in Sumatra.

1498 Vasco de Gama discovered the sea route to India and landed near Calicut on the Malabar coast on May 20, 1498.

1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral landed in Calicut accompanied by many ships and men. He established the supremacy of Portugal over spices trade in the Malabar coast.

1502 Vasco de Gama’s second voyage to India. He strengthened the Portuguese settlements.

1508 Alfonso de Albuquerque was appointed the viceroy of Malabar coast by the Portuguese king.

1511 Albuquerque sailed to Malacca and captured the land and the spice trade from there. Portuguese was in full control of black pepper trade.

1563 Garcia da Orta described black pepper production in Java.

1550–1600 Decline of Portuguese power in the Malabar coast— supremacy of Dutch for a short period.

1600 Establishment of the British East India Company for trading in spices. British landed in India (Aug 24, 1600 at Surat).

1602 The East India Company’s ships reached Sumatra and started trading in pepper.

The establishment of the United East India company by Dutch merchants. They reached Johore (Malaysia), Siam, Amboyna (Spice Island) establishing supremacy over Portuguese, but defeated in Moluccas.

1621 Dutch attacked Benda Islands and subjugated the natives.

1636 British started export of pepper from the Malabar coast.

1641 Dutch conquered Malacca and the entire pepper trade from Far East came under their control.

1664 The Portuguese were driven out from their main settlements in Cochin and Cannanore by the Dutch. This was the end of Portuguese chapter in the pepper trade. The Dutch East India company became the master of pepper trade.

Jean Baptiste Colbert organized the French India company.

1700–1800 Dutch had to suffer defeat from the hands of the king of Travancore, and their supremacy gradually vanished. The rise of British presence in Malabar. They entered into contract with local rulers for monopoly procurement of pepper and other spices. The French who came to India for spices trade could establish a small pocket-Mahe-on the Malabar coast, otherwise their influence soon waned off.

By 1800 the British became the supreme power in pepper trade. The rest is history.

1795–1800 America entered the pepper trade. Their ship, Rajah, travelled to Sumatra for fetching pepper. Subsequently America became a major power in pepper trading.

1933 Pepper introduced into Brazil.

1938 Pepper introduced into Malagasy Republic

1954 Pepper introduced into Tropical African regions

1952–53 First research station for pepper established in India (at Panniyur)

1955 Pepper research began in Sarawak (Malaysia) 1966 First hybrid pepper (Panniyur 1) released.

1971 Beginning of the All India coordinated Research Project on spices with mandate of research on pepper.

1972 Establishment of International Pepper Community with headquarters at Jakarta.

1986 Establishment of National Research Centre for Spices (NRCS) with a major mandate on pepper research.

1996 Upgradation of NRCS into Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR)

Early History

The history of spices is as old as the recorded history of human civilization itself. The religious texts of antiquity, the Vedas, the Bible, the Quran—are all replete with references on the use of spices. Spices were in use in ancient Egypt as far back as the age of the pyramids (2600–2100 B.C.). During 3000–2000 B.C., the Assyrians and Babylonians were in close contact with the Malabar Coast of India and were trading in pepper, cardamom and cinnamon. The ancient Babylonia had a flourishing sea trade with Malabar coast and China, touching possibly many ports on the way. This Babylonian-China connection via Malabar Coast could be the earliest possible route through which black pepper plants reached the far east and south east Asian countries. In Eber’s Papyrus, dated around 1550 B.C., there were references about pepper and cardamom (In 1874 A.D. George Ebers, a German Egyptologist reported the discovery of a Papyrus roll, now called Eber’s Papyrus). Around 1000 B.C. Hatshepsut, the Egyptian Queen, despatched a fleet of five ships to the Malabar Coast of India (?) to collect spices. According to the Bible, the Queen of Sheba made a royal visit to King Solomon (1015–66 B.C.) and she took with her a long convoy of camels laden with spices. The Greek physician, Dioscordis (40–90 A.D.) has described in detail in his Materia Medica the medicinal values of spices such as black pepper, cardamom, ginger and turmeric. In Sanskrit pepper had been described as “Yavanapriya” (beloved to the Greeks), a clear pointer to the fact that pepper was so dear to the Greeks (Ummer 1989). An ancient Tamil poet has written thus: “the thriving town of Muchiri (Muziri—today’s Kodungallur near Cochin), where the beautiful great ships of the Yavanas (Greeks) bringing gold, come splashing the white foam on the waters of the Periyar and return laden with pepper” (Ummer 1989).

The post-epic period of ancient Indian history is often referred to as the rationalistic period. Famous physicians and surgeons of ancient India, like Charaka and Susrutha lived during this period. Charaka wrote his classical treatise Charaka Samhitha, wherein he mentioned various spices of Indian origin for use in medicine, such as pepper, Ocimum, asafoetida, cinnamon and myrrah and many formulations containing pepper and ginger were given by him as well as by Susrutha. Panini, the great Grammarian also lived in this period, recorded the use of pepper for spicing wine.

King Solomon of Israel and the Phoenician King, Hiram of Tyre, procured their supplies of spices from the Malabar Coast (Rosengarten 1973). By this time the Jews and the Arabs became the major traders in spices. In fact the Arabs held the monopoly of this lucrative trade, a position which continued till the rise of the Roman empire. The Arabs, as middle men, safely guarded the secret of the country of origin of pepper and other spices. The route to India was also kept as a closely guarded secret from the Egyptians and the Greeks. Duri...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• FOREWORD
• PREFACE TO THE SERIES
• PREFACE
• CONTRIBUTORS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. BOTANY AND CROP IMPROVEMENT OF BLACK PEPPER
• 3. CHEMISTRY OF BLACK PEPPER
• 4.1. AGRONOMY AND NUTRITION OF BLACK PEPPER1
• 4.2. MANAGEMENT OF PEPPER IN INDONESIA PASRIL WAHID CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INDUSTRIAL CROPS, BOGOR 16111, INDONESIA
• 5.1. DISEASES OF BLACK PEPPER
• 5.2. NEMATODE INDUCED DISEASES OF BLACK PEPPER
• 5.3. DISEASES OF BLACK PEPPER AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA
• 6. INSECT PESTS OF BLACK PEPPER
• 7.1. ON FARM PROCESSING OF BLACK PEPPER
• 7.2. PEPPER PROCESSING—THE INDONESIAN SCENARIO
• 7.3. INDUSTRIAL PROCESSING AND PRODUCTS OF BLACK PEPPER
• 8.1. THE WORLD PEPPER ECONOMY— DEVELOPMENTS AND OUTLOOK
• 8.2. ECONOMY AND MARKETING OF BLACK PEPPER IN INDIA
• 8.3. ECONOMY AND MARKETING OF BLACK PEPPER: THE MALAYSIAN SCENARIO
• 9.1. PHARMACOLOGY, TOXICOLOGY AND CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF BLACK PEPPER
• 9.2. END USES OF BLACK PEPPER
• 10. FUTUROLOGY OF BLACK PEPPER
• 11. CONCLUSIONS: CONSTRAINTS AND YIELD GAPS IN BLACK PEPPER
• 12. OTHER ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT SPECIES OF PIPER
• ANNEXURE I ISO DRAFT STANDARDS FOR BLACK PEPPER
• OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION IN MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS—INDUSTRIAL PROFILES