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PEPPER

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 128 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PEPPER , a name applied to several pungent spices known respectively as See also:

black, See also:white, See also:long, red, or See also:cayenne, See also:Ashanti, See also:Jamaica, and melegueta pepper, but derived from at least three different natural orders of See also:plants. Black pepper is the dried See also:fruit of See also:piper nigrum, a perennial climbing See also:shrub indigenous to the forests of See also:Travancore and See also:Malabar, from whence it has been introduced into See also:Java, See also:Sumatra, See also:Borneo, the See also:Malay See also:Peninsula, See also:Siam, the Philippines, and the See also:West Indies. It climbs on See also:tree-trunks by roots in the same way as See also:ivy, and from its climbing See also:habit is known as the pepper See also:vine. It is one of the earliest spices known to mankind, and for many ages formed a See also:staple See also:article of See also:commerce between See also:India and See also:Europe. See also:Tribute has been levied in pepper; one of the articles demanded in 408 by See also:Alaric as See also:part of the See also:ransom of See also:Rome was 3000 lb of pepper. Its exorbitant See also:price during the See also:middle ages was one of the inducements which led the Portuguese to seek a-PEPPER 127 See also:sea-route to India. The See also:discovery of the passage See also:round the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope led (1498) to a considerable fall in the price, and about the same See also:time the cultivation of the plant was ex-tended to the western islands of the Malay See also:Archipelago. Pepper, however, remained a See also:monopoly of the Portuguese See also:crown as See also:late as the 18th See also:century. In See also:Great See also:Britain it was formerly taxed very heavily, the See also:impost in 1623 amounting to 5s., and as late as 1823 to 2S. 6d. lb. The largest quantities of pepper are produced in See also:Penang, the See also:island of See also:Riouw, and Johore near See also:Singapore—Penang affording on an See also:average about See also:half of the entire See also:crop. Singapore is the great See also:emporium for this spice in the See also:East, the largest proportion being shipped thence to Great Britain.

The varieties of black pepper met with in commerce are known as Malabar, Aleppy or See also:

Tellicherry, See also:Cochin, Penang, Singapore and Siam. Piper nigrum. a, Twig with fruit (about z nat. See also:size); b, See also:longitudinal See also:section of See also:flower much enlarged; c, section of fruit. It owes its pungency to a See also:resin, and its flavour to a volatile oil, of which it yields from 1.6 to 2.2 %. The oil agrees with oil of See also:turpentine in See also:composition as well as in specific gravity and boiling point. In polarized See also:light it deviates the See also:ray, in a See also:column 5o mm. long, 1.2 to 3.4 to the See also:left, Pepper also contains a yellow crystal-See also:line See also:alkaloid, called See also:piperine, to the extent of 2 to 8%. This substance has the same empirical See also:formula as See also:morphine, C17 H15 NO3, but differs in constitution and properties. It is insoluble in See also:water when pure, is devoid of See also:colour, flavour and odour, and may be resolved into piperic See also:acid, Ci2Hio04, and piperidine, C5H11N. The latter is a liquid colourless alkaloid, boiling at 1o6° C., has an odour of pepper and See also:ammonia, and yields crystallizable salts. A fatty oil is found in the pericarp of pepper, and the berries yield on incineration from 4.1 to 5.7 of ash. The only use of black pepper is as a condiment, but it may be given therapeutically in doses of 5 to 20 grains. It has the pharmacological actions of a volatile oil.

In the See also:

south-west of India, where the pepper-plant grows See also:wild, it is found in See also:rich, moist, leafy See also:soil, in narrow valleys, propagating itself by See also:running along the ground and giving off roots into the soil. The only method of cultivation adopted by the natives is to tie up the end of the vines to the neighbouring trees at distances of at least 6 ft., especially to those having a rough bark, in See also:order that the roots may easily attach themselves to the See also:surface. The underwood is then cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit See also:free See also:ventilation. The roots are manured with a heap of leaves, and the shoots are trained twice a See also:year. In localities where the pepper does not grow wild, ground is selected which permits of free drainage, but which is not too dry nor liable to inundation, and cuttings are planted at about a See also:foot from the trees either in the See also:rainy See also:season in See also:June or in the dry season in See also:February. Sometimes several cuttings about 18 in. long are placed in a See also:basket and buried at the See also:root of the tree, the cuttings being made to slope towards the See also:trunk. In See also:October or See also:November the See also:young plants are manured with a mixture of leaves and cow-dung. On dry soils the young plants require watering every other See also:day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants See also:bear in the See also:fourth or fifth year, and if raised from cuttings are fruitful for seven years, if.from See also:seed for fourteen years. The pepper from plants raised from cuttings is said to be See also:superior in quantity and quality, and this method is in consequence most frequently adopted. Where there are no trees the ground is made into terraces and enclosed by a mud See also:wall, and branches of Erythrina indica are put into the ground in the rainy season and in the course of a year are capable of supporting the young pepper plants. In the meantime See also:mango trees are planted, these being preferred as supports, since their fruit is not injured by the pepper plant, while the Erythrina is killed by it in fourteen or fifteen years.

In Sumatra the ground is cleared, ploughed, and sown with See also:

rice, and cuttings of the vine are planted in See also:September, 5 ft. apart each way, together with a sapling of See also:quick growth and rough bark. The plants are now left for twelve or eighteen months and then entirely buried, except a small piece of See also:bent See also:stem, whence new shoots arise, three or four of which are allowed to climb the tree near which they are planted. These shoots generally yield See also:flowers and fruits the next year. Two crops are collected every year, the See also:principal one being in See also:December and See also:January and the other in See also:July and See also:August, the latter yielding pepper of inferior quality and in less quantity. Two or three varieties are met with in cultivation; that yielding the best kinds has broadly ovate .leaves, five to seven in number, nerved and stalked. The flower-spikes are opposite the leaves, stalked and from 3 to 6 in. long; the fruits are sessile and fleshy. A single stem will bear from twenty to See also:thirty of these spikes. The See also:harvest begins as soon as one or two berries at the See also:base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is mature, but when full-grown and still hard ; if allowed to ripen, the berries lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected in bags or baskets and dried in the See also:sun. When dry the pepper is put into bags containing from 64 to 128 lb. In Sumatra the yield is estimated at about 12 lb per plant per annum. In Malabar each vine gives 2 lb a year up to the fifteenth or twentieth year, or about 24 lb from each tree, a single tree sometimes supporting eight or twelve vines; an See also:acre is calculated to bear 2500 plants, to cost about 4 in outlay to bring it into bearing, and to yield a produce of £8o when in its best See also:condition.

White pepper differs only in being prepared from the ripe fruits. These, after collection, are kept in the See also:

house three days and then bruised and washed in a basket with the See also:hand until the stalks and pulpy See also:matter are removed, after which the seeds are dried. It is, however, sometimes prepared from the dried black pepper by removing the dark See also:outer layer. It is less pungent than the black but possesses a finer flavour. It is chiefly prepared at the island of Riouw, but the finest comes from Tellicherry. White pepper affords on an average not more than 1.9% of essential oil ; but, according to Cazeneuve, as much as 9 % of piperine, and of ash not more than 1.1%. Long pepper is the fruit-spike of Piper officinarum and P. longum, gathered shortly before it reaches maturity and dried. The former is a native of the See also:Indian Archipelago, and has oblong-ovate, See also:acuminate leaves, which are pinnately veined. The latter is indigenous in the hotter provinces of India, See also:Ceylon, Malacca and the Malay Islands; it is distinguished from P. officinarum by the leaves being cordate at the base and five-veined. Long pepper appears to have been known to the See also:ancient Greeks and See also:Romans under the name of 7ri rspi yasp6v; and in the loth century mention is made of long pepper, or macropiper, in See also:conjunction with black and white peppers. The spice consists of a dense spike of See also:minute baccate fruits closely packed around the central See also:axis, the spike being about 11 in. long and '-, in. thick; as met with in commerce they have the See also:appearance of having been limed. In See also:Bengal the plants are cultivated by suckers, which are planted about 5 ft. apart on dry rich soil on high ground.

An See also:

English acre will yield about 3 maunds (8o lb) the first year, 12 the second, and 18 the third year; after this time the yield decreases, and the roots are therefore grubbed up and sold as pipli mul, under which name they are much used as a See also:medicine in India. After the fruit is collected, which is usually in January, the stem and leaves See also:die down to the ground. Long pepper contains piperine, resin and volatile oil and yields about 8 % of ash. Penang and Singapore are the principal centres in the East for its See also:sale. Ashanti or West See also:African pepper is the dried fruit of Piper Clusii, a plant widely distributed in tropical See also:Africa, occurring most abundantly in the See also:country of the Niam-niam. It differs from black pepper in being rather smaller, less wrinkled, and in being attenuated into a stalk, like See also:cubebs (the dried unripe fruits of P. Cubeba), to which it bears considerable resemblance externally. The See also:taste, however, is pungent, exactly like that of pepper, and the fruit contains piperine. It was imported from the See also:Grain See also:Coast by the merchants of See also:Rouen and See also:Dieppe as earlyas 1364 and was exported from See also:Benin by the Portuguese in 1485; but, according to Clusius, its importation was forbidden by the See also:king of See also:Portugal for fear it should depreciate the value of the pepper from India. In tropical Africa it is extensively used as a condiment, and it could easily be collected in large quantities if a demand for it should arise. Jamaica pepper is the fruit of Pimenta officinalis, an See also:evergreen tree of the See also:Myrtle See also:family. It is more correctly termed " See also:pimento" or " allspice," as it is not a true pepper.

Melegueta pepper, known also as " See also:

Guinea grains," " grains of See also:paradise" (q.v.) or " See also:alligator pepper," is the seed of Amomum Melegueta, a plant of the See also:ginger family; the seeds are exceedingly pungent, and are used as a spice throughout central and See also:northern Africa. For Cayenne pepper, see that article. PEPPER-See also:CORN, the fruit or seed of the pepper plant; hence anything very small or insignificant. Pepper-corn See also:rent is a merely nominal rent, reserved for the purpose of having the tenancy acknowledged by the See also:tenant. See also:Building leases frequently reserve a pepper-corn as rent for the first few years. See RENT.

End of Article: PEPPER

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